Wretched Year (SYOC)
by Yonebashi
Summary: It's odd really. When you're a teenager you think time is limitless, that you're invincible and have some sort of special role in life; maybe you'll be the first one on mars, discover the cure for cancer, or get lucky with that really hot chick in your class. The possibility of the sudden, merciless grasp of death suddenly grabbing you never crossed your mind, did it?
1. Chapter 1

**Monday – April 18** **th** **of the year 2016 – Washington Seattle**

A pair of onyx orbs analyzed the documents spread over the wooden dining table, hoping to come up with something. The bearer of these eyes had been at it for a while now and had clear bags under her eyes – to anyone that even half knew her they would know that this meant Emiliana had been overworking herself again and most likely hasn't gotten much sleep these past few days. In fact if it wasn't for the chief, who had told her to go home and rest, Ana would have remained back at the station looking over the reports.

You didn't even need to half know her to realize that she wouldn't be rid of that easily; only following a part of the order Ana simply copied some of the files she had been looking over and brought them home with her. Thinking back for a moment she had arrived at her apartment around four in the morning, forgetting for a slight moment she had a watch the police officer could only estimate that it was around 5 am now.

Not even bothering with getting out of her midnight police uniform Ana had only taken her cap off, leaving her blood colored hair exposed. It was slightly curled and left down so that the tips reached her shoulders with some bangs often sliding onto her face which Ana would merely brush to the side. Despite her job being quite tiring at some points she didn't have any visible sign on her face on just how much fatigue days like these brought, in fact with her smooth well taken olive skin and well built physique one could easily tell she wasn't a day over 40.

Unfortunately Ana was 34.

Grumbling some nonsense under her breath Ana took a moment to stretch and look around her apartment. It wasn't anything fancy or big in particular; it had a small kitchen with a stove, some cabinets, a white fridge and a sink – all which if it wasn't for her would be working like just how old they looked. If she glanced at her left there was a large glass door which one slide open, which led to the small porch outside which had actually had a pretty view of the nearby ocean. Perks for being on the second top floor of a 15 story apartment. Behind her was the living room which only had two red leather couches, an average size plasma TV, and an ugly looking carpet that was honestly only there because of her mother. To her right there was a small corridor leading to the bathroom and the two bedrooms that came along with renting this apartment.

It wasn't like she couldn't afford anything better, it's just she didn't like wasting too much on anything.

Getting back to the case in hand the redhead turned back to look at the files in front of her; according to everything they have gathered so far a prostitution ring by the name of "Heavens Tune" which they have been trying to track down for months made some sort of deal with a nameless drug ring that just popped out of the blue, now they were working together. While it sounds easy to deal with there was one problem; these guys were like cockroaches and whenever they got a lead on them they dispersed without leaving a trace behind. Of course there were times when some members got careless and they ended up getting caught but no matter how much they interrogated them not one of them would say split. Nothing, nada! It looked like they preferred to take their chances in prison instead of just ratting out their boss.

That was basically the jist of it.

"Now all that's left is for the Russian mafia to join in..." Ana joked dryly, thinking for a moment how ridiculous that would be, " I guess I really can't do anything right now," the older woman whined before bringing her head down on the table. She had originally planned to look over the reports filled out after catching some of the involved and maybe pin down where they usually met up or had deals going down, but all her efforts had turned out fruitless. With all the dignity of an eight year Ana began banging her head on the wooden table and kept at it till a certain thought popped into mind;

 _'I feel like I'm forgetting something...'_ whacking that memory of hers Ana not only realized that she really didn't work well half-asleep, but after taking a glance at her watch...

"6:30?!" that meant there was only half an hour before the school bus got here... and that kid hasn't gotten up yet. Knowing just how well Anthony took his time with getting prepared the woman shot up from her chair and walked towards the corridor. Ever since getting here Ana hadn't heard bleep from her nephew... which was odd since this was not only the first time she's been around the apartment (awake) so early, but Ana always figured Anthony woke up early for school.

Even if it was a Monday she had an idea on why Anthony wasn't awake yet, _'If that kid spent all night watching cartoons I'm going to take that laptop away from him...'_ considering it was her nephew she was talking about Ana wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. Ignoring all the pictures hanging on both sides of the corridor Ana walked to the furthest door and opened it up, fully prepared to shout and nudge him till he woke up the woman was... surprised, to say the least with what she found;

As always her nephew's room was perfection; the floor seemed free of any liter, clothes seemed neatly put away in his small cabinet, and his bed was perfectly done. The small room was lightly illuminated by the weak morning sun that seeped through the only window in here all while her nephew sat on his bed, laptop in front of him and headphones in his ears. In fact Anthony didn't even seem to notice her till he casually glanced at his door for no apparent reason; frantically pulling out his headphones Anthony closed his laptop in the same fashion before shooting out of his bed.

Ana took a moment to analyze her nephew; as of right now Anthony was wearing a pair of greyish blue jeans, his usual black jacket that was zipped up all the way, and some white socks... if she looked down Ana would see his usual pair sneakers right beside his feet.

"Erm... could I help you?" the seventeen year old questioned his aunt, who merely kept staring at him, "I mean... the bus doesn't get here so early," Anthony quickly added, a part of him was a tad surprised to see his aunt around the apartment so early... awake.

Adjusting his glasses the teenager continued to look at his aunt before she finally spoke up, "So... you're already done, I see."

"Uh, yeah... I wake up at five," Anthony reminded his caretaker, "I take a shower, get my clothes... you know..." the younger Latino trailed off. Honestly his aunt seemed a bit out of it right now.

Ana looked at his already combed hair and could tell he wasn't lying; despite some while passing it still seemed a bit wet.

"You took a shower already?" Ana questioned, as if she needed to make sure this wasn't just some sort of trick.

Anthony nodded, "Yup I-,"

"Wait, you wake up at five?!" the redhead yelled out after finally processing all of that, never imagining his nephew woke up _that_ early for school.

The seventeen year old flinched back at the sudden shout, "Well yeah... I thought you knew," Anthony confessed in a bit of a timid tone, wondering that if he should really continue talking to his aunt or just tell her to go to sleep, "I mean, I did see you in the kitchen and heard you arrive... but I thought you would head to bed right away,"

Ana felt like face palming and began to wonder if she really should just go to sleep... though a sudden noise caught her attention. Looking at the laptop which Anthony had left on his bed the redhead could make out the slightest sound of speech... though she couldn't quite understand it.

"So what are you doing now?" His aunt suddenly questioned, not even bothering ot hide the curiosity in her tone.

"Oh, erm just... checking my email," Anthony glanced at the floor, which was probably a big mistake in his part. In fact Anthony wasn't surprise with what his aunt did next;

Like the child she sometimes acted Ana slowly walked towards the bed before snatching up the closed laptop, "Lies!" The redhead shouted out with a devious grin.

Suddenly realizing what she's done Anthony reaches out and attempts to get ahold of his laptop, but his aunt merely dodges all his grabs, "Auntie! Give that back!" Anthony spoke out all desperate, which merely motivated his aunt more.

"Now let's see what you've been looking at..." Opening up the laptop to see whatever her nephew was watching Anthony simply froze there, probably wondering how she'll be reacting this time. A part of Ana regretted doing all this and coming face to face with... four amine-or-whatever-looking girls dancing around a small platform all while a very sappy sounding song played in the background, "...what's this?" the redhead questioned her nephew, who seemed like a radioactive tomato.

"Um... it's not as a girly as it looks!" Anthony quickly defended, "There were pirates on the previous episode!"

Ana merely breathed out a sigh before she continued fiddling around with the laptop, wondering what else Anthony was doing "You know, at times like these I really think you should get yourself a girlfriend," the redhead pointed out, not even bothering to look at her nephew anymore.

"I-i already have one!"

"Oh?" Ana was honestly surprise to hear that, but doubted it was true, "How is she?" the caretaker asked with a devious smile, almost as if she knew whatever Anthony would be coming up with was going to be hilarious.

"Let's see... um, she's blonde and has stunning emerald eyes! I'd say she's a tad shorter than me... but she's really graceful! And cool!" while her nephew went on listing all her characteristics Ana simply continued to fiddle around with the device till she suddenly arrived to his desktop.

Ana had been right, this was hilarious, "Your girlfriend wouldn't happen to be this amine-or-whatever girl on your wallpaper, right?" the redhead turned around the laptop so her nephew could be reminded of his own wallpaper, which had a young woman that fit his description exactly.

Somehow Anthony's face got even redder then it already was, but taking this chance Anthony snatched back his laptop, "Stop it auntie! What did you want anyways?" the chocolate eyed male questions his aunt, who looks like she's about to burst out laughing.

Much to his suspicion that's exactly what she did. Ana didn't stop till some moments later where she managed to get herself composed enough to speak, "I wanted to wake you up since I didn't hear you... but that isn't really necessary," placing both hands on her hips Ana merely continued to stare at him, probably wondering how on earth she found her seventeen year old nephew adorable, before clearing up her throat, " Anyways, I'm just going to ignore all that and just offer you breakfast? So?"

"Oh, uh thanks but I'm good," looking a bit calmer now Anthony shook his head, "I don't feel like cooking right now," the seventeen year old spoke with a yawn, really not feeling up to cooking at the moment.

"Who said you would be cooking?" Ana glared at her nephew before crossing her arms over her chest, wondering if he was really going there.

"We both know you can't cook auntie," her nephew pointed out bluntly, a smirk forming on his lips as he simply enjoyed the sight of his aunt trying to figure out some comeback and probably failing.

His theory seemed right as Ana simply shook her head before turning towards the door, "Fine! Have fun watching your... whatever that is, I'll just be _cooking_ some eggs myself,"

"It's actually pretty interesting! It's about an amusement park that's on the verge of collapsing, but all the workers are actually from this fairy tale like world called-" Anthony continued to happily explain the plot to his caretaker before being cut off.

"You lost me at fairy tale," Ana stated bluntly before closing the door behind her, determined to prove her nephew wrong.

Simply staring at the door for a couple moments Anthony took a deep breath before dropping onto his bed, laptop tightly hold to his chest. That had been tiring... for a moment he wondered why his aunt was home and awake so early in the morning, though he figured it had something to do with her police work. After a while Anthony lost interest on the subject and simply opened up his laptop to finish off the episode... that is till he noticed the time.

"Oh..." a disappointed sigh escaped his lips as he realized that it was about time he should get going. The school bus wouldn't be arriving any time soon but Anthony wanted to get there first, so turning off his laptop Anthony simply placed it on top of his bed before sliding on his sneakers. Getting up from his bed the seventeen year old walked towards the door, which was where his backpack was hanging off of, and once he put it on left his room.

 **( 6:50 AM )**

Maroon eyes opened up to the world due to the irritating, but still needed school alarm. Having no difficulty turning it off from his spot the adolescent simply reached out a hand to stop theblaring noise and with the alarm suddenly silenced Chris merely laid there, his ears began to register the surrounding noises of chatter and laughter, which were really loud. Realizing his brothers were back and probably waiting for their mom to cook up breakfast Chris finds sleep impossible and decides to get up.

Stretching out a bit a yawn escaped his lips as he began walking towards his own personal bathroom. After opening it up Chris walks to the shower and turns it on before undressing. Quickly getting in the maroon eyed male could feel the cold water pour onto his tanned skin; this always woke him up so he had no difficulty enduring it. Nearly half an hour passes before Chris gets out and walks back to his room with nothing but a towel.

Drying up his dark, average length hair with the towel Chris takes a moment to look at his room. It could be considered a bit too simple for someone his age but the plainness was made up with the room size, which would surprise you since his house looked sort of small from the outside. There was his undone bed that had a tiny cabinet on its left while his slide open closet was a couple inches to the right. All the way on the other side of the room there was a large window that had some blue curtains holding back most of the morning sunlight and a freshly bought computer set on a black desk with an office chair in the front to match. A couple posters of some bands and games were spread across his walls while the floor had some random liter, mostly wrapping of some food he bought yesterday.

Looking over at his digital clock, which was on top of the cabinet next to the bed, Chris decided it was time to get going and headed towards his closet. Sliding it open Chris had no trouble finding the clothes he would be wearing today and threw a red dress shirt, a black vest, and some dark jeans onto his bed nearby. Chris also gets a pair of socks and underwear before getting changed, which takes a good 10 minutes. Leaving his dress red shirt untucked Chris reached below his bed and pulled out some black, white and red retro basketball shoes... Jordans mind you. Admiring them for a solid minute the dark haired adolescent decided that was enough and slid them on before walking to his bathroom.

Brushing his teeth real quick Chris spits out most of the toothpaste before looking at himself in the mirror. While he had on clothes at the moment it was still easy to tell that he was well built but because of his height Chris remained on the slender looking side... mostly. Glancing up at his dark hair Chris messes with it for some moments but it retains the usual look; spiked upwards with a couple short bangs falling onto his forehead, which were also spiky.

 _'… I'll be doing it today,'_

Chris couldn't count how many times he's told himself that. Yet for some reason today felt special, like today would be the day that he finally fessed up after so many- out of nowhere his gut begins to growl.

 _'… I'm hungry,'_

His maroon orbs continue to analyze his mirrored image, _'No way I'm eating breakfast here again, though'_ slightly scowling at the thought Chris finally gets bored and exits his bathroom. Walking towards his door Chris slings on his backpack before exiting his room. Greeted with the usual corridor that lead to the kitchen, the entrance, and living room Chris ignored all the family pictures hanging off both walls before walking down the long corridor. As he neared the entrance of his home Chris caught whiff of eggs being cooked as the jabbering of his two older brothers got louder. Yet they either didn't even know Chris was passing by or cared as his two older siblings didn't even bat a lash for him.

Just as he neared the entrance Chris heard a voice, "Oh, you're awake Chris?" the soft tone voice of his mother fills his ears, "Have a nice da-" which was quickly cut off by the main door being slammed shut. Tired eyes gaze at the door which her son had left through before going back to the kitchen.

Walking onto the nearby sidewalk Chris made his way to school. Even if he did wake up kind of late Cloverwood was near enough so that it only took like 5-8 minutes to get there by foot. Usually that time was shortened or stretched out depending on who he ran across.

Despite it still being morning Chris found his neighborhood oddly quiet. It's not as if there were ever a lot of activity going on but it felt kind of weird not seeing some of his neighbors outside talking to each other. The silence lasts for a good 10 seconds before his ears suddenly pick up on a set of footsteps running towards him from behind, though his gaze doesn't waver from the front.

 _'3...'_

 _'2...'_

 _'1...'_

"Hey Chris!" an energetic voice pierces the silence from his left. His maroon orbs lazily glance in that direction only to meet up with a set of bright blue ones. Due to height difference Chris had to turn his head a bit further down to get a good look at his neighbor; despite being shorter than your average girl that didn't seem to apply to her because by no means did her small size mean she wasn't developed. Yet his attention was brought forth to other features... like how her snow white skin seemed flawless like usual and just how long she had been fiddling around with her dark, shoulder length hair to get it curled so nicely.

Today she had decided on a chess board skirt, a white dress shirt with a honey ribbon tied loosely around the neck area and a light pink sweater thrown over which had been left opened. The rest of his neighbor's attire consisted of some black knee length leggings and a pair of a red sneakers, with her backpack to match.

"Oh, it's you Ashley," Chris turned his attention back up front, seeming almost uninterested with his neighbor's presence. Which was the complete opposite actually.

Ashley Baker looked a bit taken aback with his behavior, "What's up with that attitude?" the blue-eyed adolescent questioned with slightly puffed cheeks.

"It's morning, a Monday, and I haven't eaten anything," the taller student pointed out with a yawn.

"That explains it," that's right, Chris mentioned once he didn't eat breakfast at his house, "One would think you'd get fat from all you eat, though," the shorter adolescent teased with a small smile.

Chris shook his head, "Nah, I've got fast metabolism," the maroon eyed student reminded his neighbor.

"Oh yeah," With a light pout Ashley is once again reminded just how unfair life is before speaking up, "So how was your weekend, Chris?" she asks with a smile.

"So who's the poor shap that you're hooked on this time?" the taller student suddenly questions, sounding as if he almost pitied the guy. If he was as wild as he used to be Chris would be pitying the guy for getting on his hit list.

"What?!"

"I already know how you act when you've got a crush," that was half true, he generally had an idea when Ashley had some sort of crush. Which disturbed for a lot of reasons...

The dark haired adolescent pouted lightly, "Don't get full of yourself tally!"

"Tally?"

Ignoring his statement Ashley started to explain, "Also for your information it's more than just a crush!" the young woman defended, though Chris had a hard time taking Ashley seriously due to her natural childish demeanor, "We've been in a relationship for a while now but he told me to keep it secret from everyone... for some reason," Ashley informed her neighbor, already knowing that she didn't need to tell him to keep quiet about this.

 _'Wait... What?'_

Somehow Ashley didn't notice the taller student coming to an abrupt stop till she had taken a couple more steps forward, "Chris?" turning to look at him Ashley quickly scurried towards Chris and tried her best to get his attention. Which meant getting on her tippy toes and nearing his face as close as she could.

Chris doesn't answer but something in his mind clicked all of the sudden and he is not only reminded that he's on his way to school, but that Ashley is here. Blinking several times Chris looks down and comes face to face (well not really) with his neighbor;

"What's up with you?" tilting her head to the side Ashley questioned Chris' odd behavior.

Chris immediately looks away, "It's nothing. Just feeling hungry," relieved that he was able to hide his visible blush the taller student merely continues to walk.

Ashley simply eyes him from behind for a couple seconds before she began to jog to catch up, "So you want to study together today? We got a test coming up for history this Friday," Ashley reminded her neighbor who thankfully seemed back to his usual self. While she found his behavior odd just now Ashley didn't see any need to question him further about it.

Much calmer now Chris shrugged, acting almost indifferent to the suggestion, "As long as it's at your house like always, I'm fine,"

"You know Chris I've known you for some time, but I haven't been to your house," Ashley suddenly pointed out before spotting a stop sign up ahead, "Why is that?"

"It's too loud to study,"

"Oh," once they reached the sign Ashley, like usual, checked both directions for any cars while Chris didn't even bother and just crossed the road. Pouting lightly Ashley once again had to jog to catch up to Chris, who had already reached the sidewalk, "... say, have you heard of the White Jane?"

"That's sounds racist," the taller adolescent pointed out bluntly, thinking this was just one of her own made up stories again, "But no, I haven't," Chris glanced down at his neighbor, a small smile on his lips.

"I didn't give her the name!" Ashley defended with a light pout, "Anyways, White Jane is the ghost of a young girl that's haunting Seattle!"

"Seattle? Not just a building?" Chris questioned, slightly curious.

"No, there's been sightings of her everywhere! Look I even downloaded a video," pulling a pink smartphone out of nowhere Ashley began looking for the video. In the meantime Chris spotted the school up ahead while a school bus suddenly drove pass them. The front of the school was pretty simple; there was a small parking lot with a few cars already on there with a road that circled it, mainly used by the buses to drop off the students exactly at the front. As usual the gate was opened but the rest of the school looked to be surrounded by an easily climbable fence...

"Look!" Ashley handed him her smartphone, video about to play. They didn't even bother to stop walking as the video began to play... it was from far away, but it's main focus was the top of the space needle. It was nighttime and the video was sort of low in quality but that wasn't a problem – the problem here was that nothing was happening.

"Nothing's happening..."

"Keep looking! She should be appearing right now!"

Ashley pointed at the top of space needle so he squinted to get a better look. In an instant something white was at the top... it kind of looked like a person, and Chris thought he could make out some long flowy hair but before he could inspect it any more the white thing suddenly vanishes. The video ends a couple seconds later.

"See?"

Chris hands back the smartphone and looks around for a moment. Oddly enough they already walked past the gate and were on the parking lot, "I couldn't tell anything from that," the taller student admitted bluntly, "It sounds unbelievably nuts, anyways,"

"But it's true! There's a ton more videos like this one!"

"It could just be CG or a person faking it," Chris pointed out with a yawn, "Either way, I don't think it's a ghost," he found this type of things hard to believe, though more so because this video was from the internet.

"How about an alien?!"

"You're just getting more ridiculous,"

"I still think it's true!" Ashley protested with a light pout while they crossed the parking lot.

Chris shrugged, "Believe what ya want,"

Once they made it through the parking lot the two neighbors slid through a pair of parked school buses before they arrived at the front of the school. It was mostly grass with a couple of concrete paths leading inside the school and towards the stadium nearby. There were some benches spread here and there with some students already occupying them while others simply stood there or headed inside the three story building. While the front might fool you the inside was actually pretty spacious and it was common for freshmen to get lost while trying to find their classroom.

Ashley glanced up at Chris, "Anyways I'll see ya later!" the dark haired teen waved lightly at her neighbor, "I don't really like cafeteria breakfast... and the food in general," with that the shorter student walked in a seemingly random direction. While she hadn't voiced it out Chris figured she would be looking for one of her friends or something.

"Bye,"

Chris continued to look at Ashley before she disappeared from sight. Breathing out a sigh the maroon eyed student was starting to feel hungry so he decided to get inside and eat some breakfast. While he made his way towards the school people would either turn away or look at him due to his reputation – its common knowledge that Chris had calmed down a bit after his Junior year, though the reason wasn't known by many. Yet despite his much more friendly behavior a lot of his classmates still seemed afraid of him... which was only natural he supposed.

As Chris neared the entrance he noticed a certain group giving him the ugly eye but he just ignored them. Before he disappeared into the building Chris managed to spot a familiar face from the corner of his eye but he didn't pay him much attention; there was plenty of time later and as usual he seemed well accompanied.

While Chris left for the cafeteria Ashley continued to walk all over the courtyard. If she remembered correctly this friend of hers should have arrived by now so she should be somewhere around here. Ashley's bright blue orbs continued to analyze everyone around her till they landed on-

"Shannon!"

A young tanned woman suddenly turned to the call. Having just gotten off her bus and making her way inside Shannon glanced all over the place, wondering where the one that had called out to her was at till they eventually fell onto Ashley... who was running straight in her direction.

Shannon Bennet wasn't the type to stand out much appearance wise, which she was fine with. She didn't even mind her modest pair of breasts and height for that matter... As of the moment Shannon was wearing a white t-shirt with a short sleeved, plaid, greyish blue button up thrown over. Right below the young Native American wore some khaki cargo shorts and a pair of white sneakers, which had some blue on them. Shannon's upper back length hair was a lighter shade of brown and thanks to her clothing one could clearly see the spread of light freckles flowing along her face, arms, and legs. If one took a closer look they would notice some old stitch scars on the back of her left leg, though when you knew her for as long as Ashley has you didn't need an explanation on why those were there.

Waiting for Ashley to catch up Shannon merely watched as she got closer, which was probably a mistake in her part. She wasn't given enough time to react as Ashley suddenly took a leap and gave an all-out bear hug;

"Gaah! Ashley!" feeling as if the air was literally being squeezed out of her Shannon tried her best to get Ashley off, "Not the time!" the young native american protested, slightly impressed with how much strength her slightly taller friend was displaying.

"You've been sooo busy lately though..." Ashley wined while cuddling her, "I haven't talked to you in like a week!"

By an impossible means Ashley's hug got even tighter, which didn't go unnoticed, "Okay okay, I get it! Let's talk somewhere else, though," it's not as if she was bothered by the attention her friend's sudden affection attack had attracted, but her backpack was pretty heavy due to all the books she brought home with her over the weekend.

Ashley let go of Shannon and smiled brightly, "Alright!" the slightly taller teen cheered before she waited for her friend to catch her breathe. In about half a minute Shannon got herself together and two started to walk towards building.

"So how you've been Shannon?" Ashley asked out of the blue.

Shannon turned to look at her, "I've been busy with homework, but i'm fine," the young native american informed her friend with a small smile. While Ashley did get a bit rough when giving hugs she didn't really mind... much.

"Figures," for a moment Ashley wonders why even ask when the answer was obvious, "I really can't imagine anyone else who takes school work as serious as you do, Shany," the dark haired adolescent teased with a smile of her own. Truthfully speaking she actually could think of someone who was as diligent as Shannon concerning school work... but her friend didn't even know him and they hadn't talked in a long time so Ashley saw no reason to bring him up.

"Shany?"

Ashley ignored her friend's statement, "You should live life more! I mean there's still plenty of school left," the slightly taller girl pointed out.

"Ashley, you sound just like my parents now,"

"Well they're both pretty cool so I don't mind!"

Shannon rolled her eyes, though couldn't resist the urge to laugh, "I guess you're right about one thing," it didn't take much effort to admit that Shannon had been sacrificing a lot of her social life these past years due to her ways. Things had only gotten busier recently because this one was her senior years, " But can't have what you want without a bit of sacrifice, no?"

Ashley shrugged, "That's true, I guess"

Pushing both green doors opened the two friends entered the building. Greeted with the usual sight of the long corridor headed towards the cafeteria they ignored the nearby stairwell and the trophy shelf, having no need to look at them. Walking deeper into the building the two friends reached the first set of lockers but since none of them were theirs Ashley and Shannon walked right past them.

Ashley followed her slightly shorter friend as they passed by the cafeteria and another some more stairs that led to the library above before coming across another set of lockers built onto the wall. Shannon walked slowly towards her own and spun the combination on the reel before it opened. Relieved that she could finally get rid of these books for a good few hours Shannon opened up her backpack and began to neatly stack them inside.

Ashley merely stood there with slight curious filled eyes. Oddly silent.

After closing her locker Shannon suddenly spotted a group of friends passing by them. The native american could recognize a few faces as this year's freshmen and while they were talking pretty loudly Shannon's thoughts were on something else.

 _'… Did I really not talk to Ashley for a week?'_ Shannon originally thought that as a joke but now that she looked back what Ashley had told her wasn't a lie. She really hadn't talked to her friend all of last week due to the sudden load of work the teachers gave out...

Scowling lightly at the thought Shannon turned to look at Ashley, who merely cocked up an eyebrow at her friend scowling, "Shannon? Something wrong?" the slightly taller adolescent questioned.

Shannon shook her head, "Not really," the native american reassured Ashley, "Well... actually..."

"Hmm?"

"Well depending on how the week goes... maybe we could hang out this Saturday?"

Ashley's mouth literally dropped open, like those cartoons on TV sometimes did. But she managed to get ahold of herself quickly enough and jumped into the air, "Yay! It's been a long time since we've done that!" the dark haired teen cheered before getting ahold of Shannon's arms, "But I need you to promise it," Ashley suddenly spoke up in a more serious tone, remembering what happened last time they agreed to hang out.

"That's not necessary," the adolescent stated flatly.

"Promise it Shannon!"

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

"I said how the week went," Shannon reminded her friend, "Anything could happen - like I could be left with extra work I need to do over the weekend," the native american pointed out. Chances of that happening were really high, too.

"Shannon!"

"...I'll try my best not to have any work so we can hang out,"

Ashley pouted, wondering why it was so hard to make Shannon promise something, "That's the best I'm getting out of it, huh?"

"Yeah,"

"Fiiiiine!" the slightly taller student admitted defeat, "If you become a great doctor I guess I don't mind..." Ashley trailed off while letting go of her friends. Honestly Ashley was sort of disappointed that she couldn't make Shannon promise it but forced up a smile nonetheless. It had taken a bit of growing up but Ashley knew how important this dream of hers was so she didn't want to force her into anything.

"Thanks Ashley," Shannon suddenly spoke out, honestly having no idea how she managed to befriend someone like her, "I mean it," the native american returned the smile with one of her own.

Out of nowhere they heard a couple of laughs from behind, catching their attention. Looking past her friend Shannon frowned lightly at the group of about 7-9 perfectly built jocks and some girls that looked like life sized Barbie's. With the exception of one all the girls had on their cheerleading uniform and the jocks... well they were dressed a lot more casual.

Just from hearing the laughs Ashley froze up.

"Well if it isn't Ashley," a girl at the front spoke up, grinning viciously at the shorter girl, "I'm surprised you haven't dropped out yet, slut,"

Everybody laughed at the brainless comment with the exception of one, who honestly didn't seem to care much about the situation as she continued to use her cellphone.

Shannon's chocolate orbs turned to look at Ashley who merely stood there, almost as if she didn't have the slightest intention of defending herself. While she didn't like seeing that type of behavior Shannon remembered the reason she wasn't doing anything... oddly enough it was how they first met.

"Honestly how can you live yourself?" one of the girls spoke up, who seemed a bit curvier then the one up front and had her long hair dyed red "Thanks to your lies Jordan got thrown into prison!"

"Can you like, go kill yourself like right now?"

"Honestly things would be better if you just disappeared you know,"

 _'That's it'_

"Hey," Shannon walked past her friend and got in between them, so that Ashley was right behind her.

Slightly surprised at her sudden intervention the one at the front speaks up, "What the fuck?" Almost as she hadn't notice her presence till now the blonde glared at the shorter student, "Shannon could you like leave? This is none of your business,"

"No," Shannon flat out denied. It was obvious even to people that didn't know her that Shannon was pissed, yet they still refused to take her seriously, "I won't leave and you know why? Well it's because you, of all people, aren't only just making false accusations when you know Jordan deserves nothing more than to rot in prison for the rest of his life for what he did, but are also messing with Ashley, my friend,"

The blonde smirks viciously as she approaches the shorter student, "Shannon you don't even know shit, so could you shut up and leave?"

"Are we really doing this?" the native american questioned with a light smirk, "Please tell me we're really doing this because unlike all the spineless idiots you push around, I'm not going to take it," not even the slightest bit intimidated Shannon took some steps forward as well.

Looking like a fight was about to break between the two a couple students passing by stopped and watched from the sidelines till they formed a circle around the two. Even the one that showed more interest in her cellphone was now paying attention to the scene, eyes filled with an unreadable emotion. But a fight would certainly brighten up this dull Monday morning.

A couple obnoxious laughs escaped her lips, "What? You think I'm afraid of you? Ha! Don't flatter yourself bitch!"

In response to the statement Shannon took a couple steps back. Many took the sudden action as if she was about to chicken out, but what she did just now didn't match with what she said next, "Is that really all you can do? Just spout mindless insults when we both know you're several times more of a 'bitch' then me, Cheryl?"

"Shannon... please, you don't have to" Ashley spoke up but was cut off by her friend;

"No Ashley, I'm tired of these guys messing with you," to strengthen this statement Shannon sent a glare at the group, though most of them simply laughed.

Obviously amused by the situation Cheryl let out some more obnoxious laughs, "What? So you're suddenly a saint, Shannon?" the blonde questioned, almost as if challenging her right there and now, "Why don't you go be a goody two shoes somewhere else and let us talk, okay?"

"Or?" out of nowhere Shannon took a couple more steps back till she was right besides Ashley, "What will you do exactly if I don't?" the shorter student questioned.

Cheryl grinned viciously, "I'm going to beat the shit out of you! That's what i'm going to do you little bitc-"

"MISS HARRISON!"

The booming voice of Principal Williams suddenly interrupted Cheryl. Suddenly realizing who the voice belonged two everyone in the circle either ran away or acted as if they were just passing by. Shannon had never been so happy to see that overweight, bald old man they had as a principal as Cheryl froze up on spot. As her supposed friends made way for the principal of Cloverwood Cheryl, for once in her life, was at loss for words.

"What's the meaning of this behavior?" Now standing right in front of her Cheryl could do nothing but glance at the ground, trying her best to come up with some believable excuse. Unluckily for her Principal Williams would be given her no time for that, "I want you in my office _**now**_!" Snapping his fingers several times Cheryl could only obey his order and was silently led to his office. Already in trouble with her parents after being caught cheating on one of her tests was bad enough so adding this to the list... there's no doubt they would ground her!

With the whole thing dealt with everyone got bored and continued on the destination they had in mind. In a matter of moments the hall was nearly empty and only Ashley and Shannon were there. The slightly taller student had yet to process all that happened while Shannon merely gazed at a nearby wall, wondering how long it would take for Ashley to speak up.

"...wow, Shannon," she was beyond impressed with her friend. Ashley was also thankful but felt bad too for not doing anything herself, "How did you know the principal would come in that exact moment?"

"I spotted him walking over here a couple moments earlier so I merely took care of the advantage," the young native american explained, "I'm surprised he didn't ask me to come along too, though" that had been merely luck. In fact if Shannon hadn't caught sight of him she probably would have gotten a bit too loose lipped and have gotten in trouble too.

 _'Luckily that wasn't the case'_

Silence suddenly befell the two, which felt sort of awkward for some reason. It didn't last too long as Ashley spoke up, "... thank you, Shannon," she felt like hugging her, but Shannon would probably get annoyed by that so Ashley merely smiled at her.

Returning the smile with one of her own Shannon thought about it for a couple seconds, but in the end she ended up hugging her longtime friend, "It was nothing, Ashley," her friend in question seemed slightly shocked from her sudden action, though she got herself together and began hugging Shannon too.

"I'm surprised all of them are still defending Jordan... even knowing what he did to you..." letting go of Ashley the native american glared up at the ceiling, truly disgusted on just how Cheryl and the rest could still be defending such a pig.

"I guess you pay for your mistakes, no?"

"You did nothing wrong Ashley," Shannon quickly added in a stern voice, "That ass hole has no excuse for what he did..."

"..."

"Get a teacher when they do this again, alright?"

"Okay..."

Shannon looked at Ashley, whose mood obviously dropped. For a moment a thought crossed her mind; this had been the first time Shannon had outright confronted them since they usually just ignored them or there was a teacher nearby to make them stop. Honestly she didn't have a clue on why that happened... was it due to all the stress she's had with doing so much work? Well that wasn't what she had been thinking about, actually Shannon was wondering what on earth happened that one week they didn't hang out at all. While Ashley hadn't brought it up this wasn't the first time they hadn't hanged out for a long period of time and knowing her friend unless someone else intervened by their own choice... Ashley wasn't the type to drag anybody else into her troubles.

"...from now on go find me whenever they mess with you, okay?" Shannon surprisingly found no difficulty saying this, the confidence in her tone didn't go unnoticed by Ashley, "Also aren't you friends with Chris? Go call him whenever they start this crap again!" she had seen those two walk home sometimes, so why wasn't that guy helping out? Already well familiar with the type of reputation he had Shannon had no doubt in mind that even Cheryl and her group would keep their distance if they saw them hanging out.

Ashley shook her head, "No, I don't want to involve him in any of this," the dark haired adolescent spoke up. While she found her words slightly annoying Shannon wasn't surprise to hear them, "Plus I don't think he considers us friends..." recalling the one time she referred to Chris as a friend Ashley remembers seeing a displeasured look on his face, "I mean we do walk home together and even study in my house sometimes! But... I don't want him to feel obligated to help me in all this because of that, "there was that plus Ashley didn't want Chris to get into any unnecessary fights. While the reason got her a bit under the weather Ashley was glad that he had calmed down after last year... she really hated seeing him fight.

"You really are too soft for your own good Ashley..." having the urge to face palm Shannon managed to hold herself back. While she found that trait of her friend's annoying at the end of the day she had to admit that it was also the one she liked the most.

Deciding she didn't want to talk anymore on the subject Ashley forces up a smile, "How about we got to class now?

Despite her mood Ashley forces up a smile, deciding she didn't want to talk about this subject anymore, "How about we go to class now? Since its Monday we have the same first period!" Ashley remained her friend, who already knew that.

Shannon nodded, also having enough of this troublesome topic, "Yeah, let's go," forcing up a smile of her own the two walked back to the flight of stairs near the cafeteria. It's true they lead directly to the library but their class just so happened to be near it, so they usually got there pretty early whenever they had it.

 **( 7: 34 AM )**

After Cheryl got in trouble the rest of the group had gone to an area behind the school. Since they weren't off grounds none of them got in trouble and they didn't have teachers constantly bothering them, so they always went here when something like this happened. Despite classes about to start real soon none of them were in any hurry.

Knowing just how much Principal Williams disliked each and every one of them, Cheryl would most likely get suspended for a while, "Great, now Cheryl's in trouble!" One the jocks spoke up while walking back and forth. Clearly the tallest of the group his name was Jeremy and was dating Cheryl.

"We need to like, help her!" the one with red dyed hair spoke up. She was resting on the wall nearby next to some of the other girls and looked to be trying her best to come up with something. This was April.

"How?" the Jeremy questioned, almost as if he doubted someone like her could come up with anything that would actually work, "I doubt that shitty principal will listen to anything we have to say,"

Obviously getting desperate April turned to look at a certain someone, who had been oddly quiet and fiddling with her cellphone all this time. As of the moment she was sitting down on a random bucket that had been laying around, "What do you think we should do, Delison?" the cheerleader called out to the fair skin toned student.

Large narrow eyes glance up from her screen upon the mention of her name. Stunning luminescent green orbs looked at everyone till they fell onto April, for a moment Delison wondered why on earth she had called out to her before remembering what happened, "OH, uh I dunno" the young russian responded, "But I doubt that lame-oh principal of ours will listen to anything we have to say, so we should probably just back off for now,"

Jeremy rolled his eyes, not even surprised that she couldn't come up with anything, "Typical," the jock mumbled under his breath. Jeremy out of sheer respect of Delison (supposedly) being Cheryl's best friend wasn't even going to mention on how she didn't help them torment that Ashley bitch... again. Whatever she was doing with her cellphone certainly had to be a lot more important, no?

While everyone continued to come up with some sort of plan Delison decided to play around with her extremely white flaxen colored hair, which reached all the way down to her upper thigh and was curled. For today Delison had gone with an off shoulder pink top that had some large polka dots spread across it that were a darker shade of pink and a white skater skirt, which a shiny grey belt around it. The rest of her attire consisted of a pair of brown boots, violet stockings, and some colorful plastics bangles on her right hand.

Even amongst her "friends" Delison stood out quite a lot and was known to be a glamorous beauty. In fact the only thing she'd have to complaint about herself would be... those cursed B-cup breasts of hers...

Scowling lightly at the thought Delison simply goes back to play with her cellphone, not all interested with whatever they were planning. So as long as most of them continued to treat her like a queen bee Delison would remain with them... most of these guys knew how to throw a good party, too. Only joining their small crew once she entered this high school Delison originally had no idea on why they hated this Ashley gal so much, but after finding out what exactly happened...

 _'Nope,'_ at some points Delison questioned herself it all those parties an queen service was really worth getting into such annoying trouble over a guy that did in fact deserve to be in prison, but since there weren't any other wealthy kids at this school she usually just ignored that thought. Now she usually just walked away or occupied herself with her cellphone whenever they started that shit.

Jeremy and the other guys were annoying, though. Honestly she tried her best just to hang out with the girls... even if they were probably the most vicious. Cheryl was annoying too and with her constant bringing up of this subject, all the girls just followed her! Not to say she couldn't be tough herself, in fact if she showed her true colors Delison would probably be the most dangerous person in this school... her lips formed into a devious smirk at the thought, which quickly disappeared as soon as she heard the continue blabbing of those jocks.

' _So annoying'_ the young russian thought to herself, _'I really wish they stopped talking about this! Ugh, why don't you mindless muscle just leave so these girls can start treating me like the queen whenever Cheryl isn't around!'_

Honestly all the men she's met in this school are just stupid.

 _'Oh Tony... I wonder what you're doing right now,'_ feeling as if she could squeal at the sudden thought of her beloved the young russian closes her eyes and smiles. While it's true she hasn't had any progress in finding him yet Delison is positive they'll come across each other someday...! This very state of mind hasn't changed despite so many years passing by.

"So what's up guys?"

Suddenly hearing a new voice Delison opens up an eye and looks in the direction it had come from, but when she saw who it was the flaxen haired teen simply closes it up again; with a light scowl on her face she realized it was someone annoying, though nonetheless entertaining whenever he passes by.

Nikolas Duncan looked around the former group he used to hang out with, his midnight orbs glancing at everyone. Over the years some oldies had left and new faces had taken their place but it seems Jeremy, April, and Cheryl still took part in this small crew... even if Cheryl wasn't here at the moment. Despite being a tad shorter than some of the other jocks he by no means was he out of shape – quite the opposite actually. Even if he had on thicker material clothes it would still be easy to tell Nikolas was fairly muscular, though not so overly buff that it displeased his female classmates. Like usual his light brown hair was styled to the right.

Today Nikolas had gone with a light gray button up that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, some plain blue jeans, and a pair of dark brown shoes.

"Hi Niki!" One of the girls suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah how you've been?"

"We haven't talked to you in a while honey bun~!"

"You've been bullying Ashley again, huh?" Nikolas suddenly blurted out from the blue as he neared his former group.

The statement made most of the girls uncomfortable, seeming as they forgot just why Nikolas didn't hang around with them anymore, "Well... yeah!" April answered hesitantly.

"Cut the crap Nikolas," Jeremy suddenly speaks up. The jock walks straight towards him," You already know why we're doing this; I won't even mention that you were supposedly Jordan's best friend back in middle school! I've been keeping quit up till now for sheer respect... but recently you've been getting on my nerves," the blonde adolescent admitted in an angered tone, almost as if just seeing Nikolas pissed him off.

"And that's exactly why I stopped hanging with you lot," Nikolas came to a halt a couple inches away, a smug smile on his face, "But I will admit that you guys were once my friends, very very close friends. So like always I'll let you off with a warning... alright?"

"Fuck you," Jeremy flat out cursed his former friend before charging with a fist raised.

Nikolas simply moves to the side and dodges the attack at the last second, his superior reflexes not going unnoticed, "You know I don't particularly care for Ashley... or Jordan, for that matter," the muscular adolescent admitted with a cocky grin, "But I really can't stand seeing a bunch tormenting a single lady soooo," just as Jeremy turned around to face him again Nikolas landed a straight onto his face, which manages to throw the taller student onto the concrete ground.

Everyone is taken aback by the scene. Some of Jeremy's friends consider joining in while some of the girls are wondering if they should really stay around since they didn't want to get in trouble. Delison merely watches the fight through the recording camera on her cellphone, her lips shaped into a devilish smirk. Nothing entertaining has happened in this school lately and honestly she had been getting bored... like really, really bored. But with this video Delison could cause a bit of fun.

"I don't even need to go all out with you," Nikolas states confidently while looking down at his former friend. Jeremy was nothing special; all he had was too much muscle and lacked any sort of actual combat style, "So that should be enough-"

The muscular adolescent is cut off by a sudden punch to the gut, which was landed by Jeremy. It throws him back a couple inches back while Jeremy gets up and swipes some blood from his lips. Obviously surprised by the jock's endurance Nikolas grins, "Hey I felt that one!" the shorter student shouted out before charging at Jeremy with astounding speed, "But you still aren't even close to my level, weakling,"

Effortlessly dodging another one of his punches by moving to side Nikolas didn't miss a beat and landed another punch to his gut. Jeremy didn't seem that affected this time and using the chance the jock got ahold of his former friend's arm and began twisting it. In return Nikola simply grinned, in effort to ignore the pain, before bashing his head onto Jeremy's face.

Surprisingly that hadn't been enough, so Nikolas doesn't hesitate to head-butt Jeremy in the face several more times before the jock finally lets go of his hand. Jeremy takes a few steps back while clutching his face and seeing the opportunity Nikolas decides to finish this; dashing forward Nikolas brings up one of his knees towards the jock's gut and due to Jeremy still recovering it lands without a problem. Momentarily loss for air the taller student lands on the concrete ground with his knees in defeat.

Delison continues to record the fight till she notices the time, seeing that classes are about to start in a couple minutes. Scowling lightly the young russian stops recording, puts away her cellphone, and gets up before heading to the nearest entrance. When they noticed Delison suddenly leaving all the girls are surprised, but April is the only one who speaks up, "Wait Delison? Where are you going?"

The flaxen haired teen glances at her, "Even I'm not dumb enough to just stand around here," Delison pointed out in a bratty tone, since she had plenty of footage there was really no reason to stick around here, "You're more than free to stay but I'm out of here~!" with that the young russian begins walking away and just like she expected, all the girls start following her. Heck even the jocks that had been watching the fight decide to follow her oddly enough.

Nikolas walks towards the fallen Jeremy, a sadistic smile on his face as he's is about land the finishing blow. Suddenly he hears the bell ring, signaling that it's time for first period and that all the students should be heading there, "Literally saved by the bell," he muses with a smug grin, "That's a warning – I don't want to see you messing with Ashley, got it?" with that Nikolas makes his way out of there, though suddenly comes to a halt a couple feet from Jeremy.

"By the way to me, Jordan is dead," Nikolas coldly admitted, meaning every word in that statement, "There's no way I could consider him my friend after what he did," making sure Jeremy heard it the muscular adolescent continued on his way, pleased that once again he had totally crushed his opponent.

 _'There's only one I haven't won against'_ it's pretty hard for him to admit it, but that's the cold truth. Not liking thinking about that certain bastard Nikolas simply shakes his head and decides that walking won't get him there in time, so he begins to run at the nearest entrance.

 **( 8:31 AM )**

"... So, any questions my students?" The one to ask this was an elderly man who honestly seemed like the slightest breeze would blow him away. Mr. Garison was slightly hunched and had on a pair of reading glasses, which he really needed. Having just explained a math problem a lot of his students had gotten wrong the elderly man looked for confirmation around the classroom, honestly having no idea how he could explain it any better.

Only two or three students nodded their heads while the rest either shook their head or just stared at the board, trying to figure out just how on earth he got that answer.

"... Well, I guess I could explain some other way," turning towards the chalkboard Mr. Garison, while troubled that more than half of his students didn't get such an easy problem, was glad that they seemed a lot more motivated than usual.

As the elderly teacher began explaining the problem again a few students occupied themselves with something, either already knowing the process or not caring much about it. Amongst these a small, caramel skinned adolescent continued to scribble on her notebook – her dark brown eyes not leaving the piece of paper even once. Right now Aryan Patel had her black, wavy hair that usually reached her mid back tied up into a messy bun. There were other times where she had it pinned back or used a white headband to keep the bangs away but honestly, Aryan preferred this style of hair.

While it's true Aryan had some long arms and legs her short torso is what gave her a tiny stature, so she was the shortest among the shortest. For today Aryan had gone along with a grey hoodie that some faded Japanese writing on the front – no way of seeing her plain turquoise shirt under the rest of her attire consisted of some beige shorts and some teal vans. There was also a copper necklace around her neck with a number 2 pendant, which was her number on the Volleyball Team.

As Mr. Garison continued to explain the problem Aryan didn't stop scribbling on her notebook. If one were to take a look they would see it wasn't just random scribbles, but some random plays she suddenly came up with for volleyball. Last week had been a tiring one for her as the coach made her attend _all_ the games their rival school, Hondloff, were participating in for the match they would be having against them this Friday. A lot of the players changed from last year; they had several freshmen that looked promising and some of the oldies looked to have improved from the last game they had against them.

Their libero was no joke, either.

Aryan scowled at the thought, ' _Man... Sometimes I wish volleyball was like that anime,'_ it was not for the game itself, but more for of the relationship the members had with each other. Despite being a great libero (one of the best in the state, mind you) Aryan couldn't help but think that maybe she should try to be a bit more outgoing with her teammates...

"Miss Patel, did you get that?"

Flitching lightly at the sudden mention of her name Aryan looks up from her notebook and at her teacher, who merely watched her along with most of the class.

"Yes Mr. Garison," the tiny adolescent responded respectfully. Content with the answer Mr. Garison then moved onto the next problem, which seemed pretty easy in comparison to the one they had just gone over.

Breathing out a sigh Aryan looked over her classroom, happy that today she didn't have any classes with that troublesome guy. Yet oddly enough she was in the same class with two very familiar faces... it didn't matter if it was elementary, middle school or high school as it seemed she would always have at least one class with these two.

Glancing at the nearest one Aryan spots him writing down on his own notebook. For some reason he had shaved off all his hair, which only increased the usual torment he received from others. Despite that Simon Castel kept the basic look that he's had since elementary school; unnaturally pale, malnourished looking build, and oddly sharp looking eyes. It was common knowledge that Simon didn't come from a very wealthy family, but it seemed as his economic situation had gotten better compared to years ago... he was a lot better dressed.

For today Simon wore white long sleeved shirt, which was right under a colorful vest. The rest of his attire consisted of black pants and a pair of chocolate brown dress shoes. Aryan had never really talked to him, but Simon was always alone... though by no means was he a quiet person. Due to probably growing up Simon was a lot calmer then he was years ago, but he was known as an overly religious who happened to have an anger issue. Whenever they made fun of him back in elementary he always fought... but out of nowhere he left and it wasn't till Aryan reached high school that she saw him again.

It seemed as some former classmates still remembered him, so whenever they wanted they usually made fun of him. Though Simon just ignored them now.

And of course the other person... was Anthony.

 _'I think someone's looking at me,'_

For some reason the sudden thought popped into Anthony's mind, so naturally he looked around the class. After realizing that nobody was watching him the latino went back to humming his song... not too loudly though, since Mr. Garison hated whenever somebody hummed. Anthony was pretty glad that he had been moved to another e class a couple weeks back; now he wasn't bothered by Jeremy. Even if he had him for P.E the jock usually just ignored him, so there was nothing to worry about.

As the elder teacher robotically explained the problem a random ball of paper was sent flying at Simon, which hit the back of his head. Along with most of the class both Aryan and Anthony had caught sight of it, though they were probably the only ones that expected something to happen as they knew of Simon's anger problem. To their relief Simon simply looked around the classroom before reaching down for the ball of paper and opening it; apparently there was something written on it and while no one was sure of its contents, it must have been something pretty bad since Simon's usual calm expression was changed to a heavy frown.

Hearing a couple laughs from behind Simon turned in the direction, his eyes landing on a certain class clown that was all the way in the corner of class. Aryan also took interest in this and quickly realized it wasn't just Austin in on this, but some of his friends as her ears picked up on a couple more soft laughs. Most likely expecting some sort of reaction Simon, like usual, simply ignored them and threw the paper away much to Austin's displeasure.

After that the rest of class passed by quickly and uneventfully.

"Well, that's all for today," Mr. Garison informs his class, "I won't be leaving your homework for today, but I do want you all to study alright? There will be a test on Friday over everything we've gone through!" with that in mind the elder man dismisses his class just as the school rung, signaling that the first class of the day was over and that it would be time for second period soon.

Everyone gets up from their desk and start to make their way towards the door, where there's already some students waiting on the other side. Anthony managed to recognize them as some juniors, but since he wasn't really friendly with any of them the latino silently leaves the classroom and walks down the hall.

Aryan is a bit slow and like usual is one of the last ones to leave class. By now it's usually just herself, Austin plus his group of clowns and two or so students she hasn't bothered with learning their name. Just as she's putting on her backpack something manages to catch her eye; some might just call this over thinking things, but Aryan notices Simon's at his desk. This was odd to her because Simon was usually one of the first ones to get out of class...

The tiny adolescent watches Simon from her desk before she notices Austin and the rest of his friends getting up. As if on cue her sharp eyed classmate gets up as well and heads towards the door, a safety distance from Austin. Once they finally reached the front of the classroom Simon suddenly tackles the class clown onto the ground.

"Ouch! What the fu-" Simon quickly cuts him off by spinning him around, so they faced one another. By the time Austin's friends realize his situation Simon already had a large pair of scissors inches away from his left eye.

"Say you're sorry," Simon calmly demands as he draws the tip of scissors closer to the Austin's eye. Not one student dared move or even stream out for help in fear of what would happen next. The only one to act was Mr. Garison who quickly got ahold of his phone and started dialing the office.

Clearly frightened by the situation Austin starts sweating buckets, "You're insane!" the short adolescent shouts out through gritted teeth.

"Say you're sorry," the pale student demands again, drawing the tip of the scissors even closer.

"Let him go you insane bastard!" one of Austin's friends speak up, but Simon simply ignores his classmate and continues to stare at the self-titled class clown.

While Mr. Garison explains his situation on the phone Aryan merely watches from the sidelines, for a slight moment the possibility of interfering crosses her mind... but the tiny adolescent quickly disapproves of the idea. It's not as if she was that close or even found Austin funny, on the contrary Aryan tended to be annoyed by his mindless jokes, but one thing was to dislike a person and another was to let someone die. Yet despite this she only continues to watch the scene in front of her, Simon continuously demanding that Austin apologized while his classmate was either too scared or too stupid to respond.

Finally Austin gives in, "O-okay! Fine, I'm sorry!" the shorter student pleads shamelessly and most likely not even meaning a word. Despite this Simon seems content with the answer and gets off of Austin, he throws the pair of scissors onto the ground as the shorter student scurries off the floor and towards the exit.

As if by coincidence the school security guard walks in. Aryan honestly didn't believe this overweight man could do much in a real life or death situation, but concerning this the security guard seems to have this under control as he asks Simon to come along pacifically. Surprisingly enough the ghostly pale student complies with his request and walks towards the older male. All the other students back off from him as he's silently escorted out of class and down the hall.

Nothing but the handful of students still in the classroom and the Juniors that were at the door know about what happened, though considering just how fast gossip traveled in this school everyone would probably know by lunch time. That's how it usually went... if Aryan recalls correctly. A bit surprised with how calm she had been through the whole ordeal the sudden voice of Mr. Garison pulls her out of her thoughts;

"Alright everyone... nothing happened here," Mr Garison tells as his students before asking the ones inside the class to leave. With nothing but the scare in mind everyone complies and Aryan walks out, passing by the group of juniors who were talking amongst one another about what happened. Not paying them much attention after that the tiny adolescent walks towards her next class.

 **( 10:34 AM )**

With the ending of second period it's lunchtime for seniors. Most decide to stay in the cafeteria while others just hang out outside the building, since this was the only free time they had in school. Chris didn't like eating the cafeteria due several annoying people... plus the fact that there was no table free to seat at. So like usual the maroon eyed student goes outside, his plastic lunch plate in hand full of food as he went to his usual spot.

There was a spacious green field right beside the school, near the other parking lot. A lot of students usually spent their time here playing a couple of small games or just walking around. As for Chris he had found the perfect spot to eat... a comfortable bench that was right below a small tree, giving him plenty of shade. It wasn't too far from people and it wasn't too close either.

A few of his female classmates would greet him while he made his way there, which Chris would greet back with a friendly response. It common knowledge that people were either really afraid of Chris or hated him with a burning passion due to his first three years in Cloverwood... which were all in the past now. Over the couple months in his senior year Chris has gotten up to the level where he was now tolerated by most teachers and still had a pretty nice reputation with girls, so as of the moment he was content with his social life. Mostly anyways...

 _'… God dammit Ashley,'_

Irked by the thought Chris mood goes back to his usual laidback one when he spots his lunch spot up ahead... which only lasted about three seconds when he noticed someone already sitting there.

This shouldn't be a surprise... that was a pretty nice spot after all. Plus luckily all the benches here were made for two-three people, so that person could either tolerate him or just leave. Either worked for him. As Chris got closer he couldn't help feeling a bit surprised at who he saw sitting at his lunch bench, all by himself and without his usual company.

A pair of chocolate orbs suddenly turn in Chris' direction as the bearer of these eyes had suddenly heard a set of footsteps coming in his direction. The one sitting on the bench was a dark olive toned adolescent who was one of the few people who beat Chris in height, which was saying something, "Hey there, Chris, "the senior student greets his friend with a light smile and a wave of his hand.

Phil Angelo was a tall, lanky looking individual that was nonetheless very well built. Even when taking his 6'4" height in note Phil still had very long arms and legs, which served perfectly well in what he did. Like usual Phil's curly dark brown hair ran down his forehead, not too far from reaching his neck; knowing the guy Chris wouldn't be surprise if his slightly taller friend just woke up and didn't even bother with his hair.

As of today Phil wore a forest colored polo that looked like a golfer would wear. The rest of his attire consisted of some dark teal colored jeans that were neither too baggy nor tight and some flat looking shoes, which Chris recognized as a pair that Phil wore mostly when doing long distance running... that sort of stuff. It felt weird not seeing the humble jock with his usual grey fencing jacket, but Chris figured that there were times when even he took it off.

The maroon eyed student drops himself onto a spot right besides Phil. Dropping his plate of food onto his laps Chris turns to greet him, "Hey there, I'm surprised to see you all alone here," despite asking a question Chris quickly took ahold of his pizza and took a bite from it; sure, it tasted like cardboard coated with some cheese and pepperonis but he didn't care.

Phil cocked up an eyebrow, "Is it really that unusual?"

"Yeah, usually you got a flock of girls talking to ya,"

"That's true I guess," Phil shrugs before glancing up at the blue sky, "But there's times I just want to enjoy days like these, too,"

Nearly done with the pizza Chris takes another bite, chews it a bit, before smirking, "Are you sure it isn't just because they've annoyed you?" the maroon eyed adolescent spoke with a mouthful, honestly seeing that even some like Phil would get annoyed of them, "I wouldn't be surprised,"

Phil let out a couple laughs while Chris finished up the rest of his pizza, "They make an interesting company... to say the least," the humble jock had to admit that sometimes they got a bit over their heads, but in some way or another they always managed to make him laugh, "I appreciate their friendship," the taller adolescent spoke with his usual smile.

"...so, you've eaten lunch yet?" Chris asked out of the blue, just finishing his pizza he quickly moves onto the rest of his food. He wouldn't mind having a bit of his friend's homemade lunch, though.

Phil nodded, "Yeah, I made myself something before coming to school," thinking that he should have made a bit extra in case Chris wanted some, Phil trembled lightly at how his friend could eat the food served here, "There's no way I'm eating the cafeteria food again," lightly clutching his stomach Phil is reminded of a past event that he'd rather not speak about.

Quickly swallowing his food Chris busted out laughing, reminded about what happened months back after Phil decided to taste cafeteria food for the first time. After a while of laughing Chris finally calms down, "It's not that bad," the maroon eyed student protested lightly, "I've tasted better, but I'm sure we got it better than some other schools,"

Phil rolls his eyes, wondering just how on earth Chris could eat the food served here. Was it because his body had grown used to it or something? That was certainly something Phil would probably never find out, which he was fine with not knowing, "If you want quality pizza I could just make you one myself," the humble jock reminded his friend of his cooking abilities with a confident smile "I could also cook you up some other dishes better then pizza, by the way,"

"Meh, yours is okay," Chris acted indifferent about his proposal, though actually did quite like the food Phil made, "And I doubt it," the maroon eyed student challenged with a crooked grin.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Yeah,"

"Fine... I'll call you up once I've prepared something,"

"Could you just bring it over to my house?" Chris asks in a laidback tone, though is slightly shocked from suddenly seeing his plate empty, "Your apartment's too far from my house, you know"

"Lazy bones," Phil teases with a couple chuckles, not even surprised by his friend's lax nature. Suddenly a thought pops into mind, "So how's your sister?" He asks out of the blue, suddenly curious on the youngest Evans sibling.

"I have no idea," Chris admitted in a slightly bitter tone, "I'm sure she's fine though, she's a tough nut to crack,"

The taller student cocks up an eyebrow "A tough nut to crack?" Phil questions with an amused smile.

"I felt like adding some style," the maroon eyed student admitted, "But now I feel kind of dumb," Chris further admits with a laugh, which Phil joins in with one of his own. After a while they calm down at the dumb joke and they merely sit there in silence, which was only interrupted by the distant noises of classmates and Chris' stomach grumbling.

A sudden thought suddenly pops into the maroon eyed student's mind, well two thoughts actually. Deciding which one to ask Chris goes with the first one, figuring that he needed to know this first. Clearing up his throat to get Phil's attention, which worked, he speaks, "Have you seen the Eastons lately?" Chris asked with slight hesitation that seemed to go unnoticed by Phil. There was no real way to tell honestly.

The carefree mood is suddenly ran over, thrown onto a lake, somehow set on fire and exploded as Phil shook his head, "No," the humble jocks admit in a distant tone, his gaze suddenly going back to the sky.

"You should drop by one of these days, I'm sure they would appreciate it," Chris pointed out in a stern voice, already knowing just how he's been growing distant with the family; still, he couldn't really blame Phil for the way he's acting.

Phil nodded, "Yeah, I really should," the taller student agreed with a small smile, which Chris didn't even need to analyze further to know it was a forced one. The maroon eyed student continues to stare his friend as a sudden silence overcomes them for a couple minutes, till finally Chris decides to get the tough one out of the way;

"Hey, are you really okay?" the dark haired adolescent asks in a concern tone, they hadn't talked in a while due to... complicated reasons, to say in the least, "It's been 2 months since Lane..." not having enough courage to finish the sentence Chris trails off, wondering just how his friend would react.

"... It still hurts a bit, "Phil admits in a clearly saddened voice, "But I think I'm okay now," his tone made it sound as if he was unsure of the answer himself, which sort of bothered Chris.

Chris began rubbing the back of his head, he hadn't intended to bring Phil's mood down. What worried him is that his friend might do something crazy, something that Chris didn't even want to think about. It felt hard remembering the state Phil had been in for the first couple weeks.

The maroon eyed student joins Phil in looking at the sky, deciding that maybe talking positively might cheer him up, "Lane was really something you know," Chris suddenly spoke out of the blue with a small smile, "This school wouldn't even have a fencing team it wasn't for her," it felt odd remembering the memory, but he could clearly remember Lane suddenly texting him about how she was going to establish a fencing team for Cloverwood.

Chris hadn't really cared back then quite honestly, in fact he went along time without even speaking a word towards Lane apart from the usual text. By the time Chris started hanging out with her again Lane and Phil had been dating for some time... his sister was in prison and Ashley accompanied him to and from school practically every day.

Phil doesn't respond in any way, but decided he'd rather just listen silently to Chris.

"But you're really focusing on fencing, huh?" Chris pointed out, wondering if he would be getting any whys to this certain question, "You haven't joined any other sports and I heard you even quit the cooking club,"

Much to his displeasure the humble jock remains silent and simply looks up at the sky. Chris frowns lightly at his friend's behavior, though quickly feels guilty about bringing up the subject itself.

"Once I graduate I'm leaving WA," Phil suddenly spoke up from the blue.

Slightly taken aback by the sudden statement Chris can only let out an, "...oh," blinking several times before he grows curious on the matter, the maroon eyed student asks, "Where are you leaving for?"

Phil shrugged, at the moment not quite certain of the answer himself, "I'm looking into some fencing teams and I'm not sure yet, but I'm considering joining this one in Japan," he informs his friend, his gaze not once leaving the sky.

"...hmm,"

"Yeah,"

…

…

…

A sudden growl pierces the silence.

"Say could you get me something to eat from the cafeteria?" as if on cue Chris suddenly asks his friend, staring down at his empty plate. Since Phil had brought food from home he could just use his ID to get in line and get more food for him, "I'm still hungry,"

Phil had been taken completely off guard by the random request. Looking right at his maroon eyed friend with an almost unbelievable expression Phil merely stares at him; Chris simply returned the stare with a bored expression, looking as if he was wondering just how long the humble jock would be looking at him. Finally Phil's lips began to tremble and immediately after he bursts out laughing at his friend's behavior.

Cocking up an eyebrow Chris simply look at his friend and waits for him to calm down, which takes about two minutes.

"You really are an odd one, Chris," Phil points out with an amused smile, wondering what on earth Chris' mind worked.

In response Chris just shrugged.

"Fine, what do you want?"

"Uh... I'm in the mood for a cheese burger and some fries," Chris started listing what he wanted, not worried about anything on his list not being available anymore, "Oh and some corn, lots of it. Try to sneaking a couple apples too..."

"Alright weirdo," Phil responded with a light laugh before getting up from the bench. Jogging towards the concrete path the humble jock makes his way down it, never imagining that he would be lining up to get some of that food ever again.

All alone now a relieved sigh escapes his lips. That conversation had been way too tiring and honestly, Chris didn't have an idea on how to properly respond to his friend's sudden announcement. There were only a couple more months left before the school year finished up... so that meant these would be the last days he'd get to hang out with Phil.

"Man... what am I going to do after this is over," Chris never gave it much thought, he wasn't really passionate for school work or had any real goals in life. Always figuring the zombie apocalypse would rise up before he, Christian Evans, graduated from high school Chris never imagined his friend already had such plans.

"Chris!"

Pulled out of his thoughts by a very familiar voice Chris looks down before turning towards the direction of the shout. Maroon orbs lazily gaze at Ashley running towards him, with another girl slowly following behind his neighbor.

"Hey Ashley," Chris greeted his neighbor with a light wave and after the other girl catches up, he asks "And...?"

"It's Shannon," the young native american replied, which Chris merely nodded as a response.

"Why are you alone Chris?" Ashley suddenly asked, looking around to see if anyone else was with him, "If you want some company we'll gladly stay here!" the shorter adolescent suggested with a bubbly smile.

Shannon shrugged, "Well we got nothing better to do,"

Chris shook his head, "I'm not alone," the maroon eyed student quickly adds in, "I was with Phil, but he left for a moment,"

"Oh..." Ashley trailed off at the mention of Phil. Noticing this Shannon cocked up an eyebrow at the sudden mood change, "How is he?" she asks in a worried tone.

"I'm not sure, he looks okay to me," way better than he was weeks ago, there was no doubt, "But it's obvious he's still pretty down about Lane," nobody could blame him, after all they had known each other for so long and only two months had passed by after... that.

"Lane?" Shannon questioned out of the blue, though she had heard plenty of Phil the shortest adolescent couldn't quite place her tongue on the name Lane... it seemed familiar, though.

"... she was Phil's longtime girlfriend," Ashley turned to look at her friend, though her mood made it seem as if she was forcing herself to explain it, "She created the fencing team here, but two months ago she got run over by a drunk driver and died,"

Shannon remembers the slight mention of a funeral about two months ago, which Ashley attended, but she hadn't questioned her slightly taller friend further out of respect, "Oh... sorry for asking," the young native american quickly apologized.

Ashley shook her head, "Don't worry, its better you know," the dark haired adolescent reassured her longtime friend, "Not a lot of people know about her death... but she was a great person,"

The tanned adolescent merely glanced down at the ground. She had seen this Lane around school throughout the years but never really talked with her directly, which was odd since Ashley sounded as if she had been a close friend with her.

Maroon eyes merely watched the two female students. While his case wasn't as bad as Phil he was still pretty down about it, so talking about Lane with people that hadn't known her that well hurt. Before his thoughts could fiddle further on the subject Chris suddenly hears a call of his name. Immediately recognizing it as Phil's voice Chris doesn't even bother to look in his direction, though Shannon and Ashley turn to look at the taller student jogging towards them with a plate of food in hand.

Ashley forces up a smile for Phil, "Phily!" the shorter student calls out to her friend, though she awaits for him to get close enough before hugging him.

Phil smiles down at the shorter student, "Hey there, Ashley," Phil greets her in a friendly tone.

A couple seconds later she let's go and looks up at him, "Why do you have that food with ya?" Ashley mimics a barfing noise to further support her statement, "It's already bad enough Chris likes it,"

The humble jock nodded in agreement, "Who did you think this was for?" Phil responds with an amused smile, "This guy asked me to get him some more to eat,"

"Chris! Who knows what will happen if you eat too much of this stuff!"

In return Chris shrugged. In terms of meals this wasn't the worst food he's eaten. Motioning for Phil to hand over the plate of good his friend doesn't waste a second and hands it over.

Phil suddenly notices Shannon, "Oh hey, it's Shannon right?" the taller student asks with a small smile.

"Yeah," the young native american responded, "It's nice to properly meet you, Phil,"

"Same here," Phil nodded lightly before a thought popped into mind, "I'm pretty sure I have you for a class today,"

"Oh right, isn't it Art?"

"Yeah... that's right after this,"

"I'm there too you know!" Ashley suddenly spoke out of the blue.

Phil smiles at the shorter student, "Yeah, there's no way I could forget you Ashley," the humble jock spoke with a chuckle.

"Good to know!"

All four continued talking like this, though Chris didn't join in till he finished all his food. After a while the school bell rung, signaling that senior lunch was over and that it was time for third period. Ashley, Phil, and Shannon made their way to Art while Chris went in a different direction... today he had P.E as a third period.

 **( 1:38 PM )**

"...alright class, that's all for today! Remember I want those book reports in by Friday! You've been given plenty of time to finish up the book so I expect everyone to turn one in,"

A vibrant yellow orb looked at all the students in front of it, though a lot of them looked a bit tired the class replied with a chorus of yes. Pleased with the answer the teacher dismisses everyone and like she always did, Ms. Smith wished them a good day.

Ms. Smith was a slim, elegant looking woman that had her golden blonde hair a bit too short, which didn't even past her ears and had kept down today. Some bangs decorated her small forehead, though they weren't long enough to get in the way of her eyesight. For today the teacher had gone with a white dress shirt, a black skirt that reached a bit past her knees, and some chocolate high heels. Yet the one thing you would first notice about her was the white eye patch covering her left eye, due to an accident she had a while back.

As the students exited the classroom Ms. Smith made her way towards her desk, having to check on a couple papers for her next class. The woman was clearly one of the younger teachers and had originally been a regular substitute for Cloverwood, which changed about a year ago when Ms. Smith had to run a whole class of seniors for the rest of the school year as one of the teacher suddenly fell ill. Unfortunately the said teacher passed away of age, but the school was so joyfully surprised with the progress she did with the class of Seniors and they had hired Ms. Smith as a teacher this year.

Taking a seat at her desk the young teacher decides to go through her usual ritual of motivating herself, which is what she always did when another class was about to enter her classroom. Before she could start it a set of footsteps suddenly caught her attention, a bit surprised since she saw a lot of her students leaving through the door Ms. Smith looks up from her desk and once she realized who it is the blonde can't help but smile. She was about to ask if she could help him with something before her student suddenly held out a thin stack of papers, which were stapled together.

Ms. Smith had her suspicions, but after getting ahold of it and looking at the cover she realized Anthony, like usual, had gone ahead of everyone and completed the book report for A long way home already.

"Oh my Anthony... I know the book isn't that long compared to some others we've read, but I guess I should expect this kind of timing from you by now," Ms. Smith chuckled lightly before doing a quick skim through the pages, "As always it looks like you did a great! You really are my star student, you know" the young teacher sincerely praised with a small smile.

At the sudden compliment the latino couldn't help but blush lightly, a part of Anthony just couldn't get to people saying those kind of things to him, "Thanks Ms. Smith... I really enjoyed reading the book," he had sincerely enjoyed reading it, since it was very different from the usual books, manga and manwha he read, "But the ending got me a little sad... I never thought he would end up dying of an illness," what had gotten him the most was this book was based on a real life story, to be honest after that kid got rescued he had expected for him to live a happy life. Anthony was well aware how childish that sounded.

"I agree with you there, Anthony," Ms. Smith played around with the book report in her hands, "But he lived a hard life, so I wouldn't be surprised due to all the stress that got accumulated was the reason for his sudden ill," even for a veteran leader she had to admit that the book had touched her feelings way more then she had expected, "I never even imagined that's how some parts of Africa where like... you know, groups just kidnap children and turning them into soldiers, most of them don't even know of their families ever again,"

Anthony felt a bit awkward when a sudden teardrop slid down Ms. Smith's cheek, though the teacher quickly swiped it away and breathed out a sigh, "It's truly heartbreaking,"

"Yeah it is..." Anthony agreed with her before trailing off, his thoughts suddenly moved to other spots.

Out of nowhere Ms. Smith began slapping herself lightly, to anyone that had even one class with her they would this meant she was trying to get herself focused again, "Anyways get going already! My next class is about to come in," playfully shooing away her student, she got up and readied herself to greet her next class in.

"Alright see ya Ms. Smith," the young latino waved goodbye at his teacher before exiting the classroom. Once he got entered the corridor Anthony walked in the general direction of the library, which had the nearest flight of stairs to the school gym. He was sort of surprised from seeing so little people in the hall, though Anthony hadn't taken that long so he didn't see any reason to hurry himself... after all the gym was right beside the lunchroom.

Almost nearing the flight of stairs every single inch of his suddenly screamed at him to run, which he was about to do before being easily pushed onto a set of lockers. Looking up at his aggressor the young latino suddenly came face to face with Jeremy, who looked a bit beaten up; Anthony also caught sight of the jock's friend's right behind him.

"Hey there, Ant,"

"Oh... hi-"

"Don't even say anything," Jeremy quickly cuts him off, already annoyed by the nerd's attempt to sound calm, "You know we've been pretty lonely since you moved to different classes! Now all we have you is for P.E!"

"..." Anthony blinks, unsure on how to properly respond.

"Anyways don't think just because you moved that this means your service just suddenly ends," the jock quickly added in with a cocky grin, "What? You think we would just leave you alone? Don't even think about that!" originally they had gotten some other poor shape to do their work, but after realizing that the guy didn't make as much quality work as Anthony they quickly ditched him.

The shorter student merely watches him with a calm expression. It's not as if he's ever had any trouble finishing up both their work, so instead of taking the stupidly heroic road out of this and standing up for himself Anthony decided on just giving in. After all if he did this Jeremy wouldn't be as bad, since a pleased bully was worst then an angry bully.

"But before that-"

"Jeremy!" One of his friend's suddenly called out.

The taller jock turns to look at him, clearly annoyed by the sudden interruption, "What is it?"

"I think Nikolas is heading this way!"

"Well shit... guess you got saved by that annoying fucker," quickly making some distance between themselves and Anthony, Jeremy decided that they could have some more fun with him in their next class, "See ya in gym, Anthony" the jock bids him farewell with his usual cocky grin before leaving for the stairwell nearby, the one Anthony was just about to take.

Adjusting his glasses the young latino merely stands there, wondering for a moment why on earth Nikolas presence had to do with all this. Quickly putting two and two together Anthony figured the one that had given Jeremy the beaten was Nikolas, which would explain since not a lot of people could stand up to the fearful jock.

For a moment Anthony considered skipping gym, which would mean skipping a class for once in his life. Figuring that he could just stay in the bathroom and use his cellphone till school ended the young latino decided that wouldn't be the right answer, since he was literally only passing P.E because he changed into his gym attire every day missing just one class could cause him to fail.

"Oh boy..." Anthony muttered to himself, mentally preparing himself for the hell that would be gym before making his way towards the nearby stairs. In a matter of moments the young latino was already half way down, his thoughts continued to tell him to just ditch everything and read some manga for the rest of the day.

' _I can't do that... no matter how tempting it is to finish up Gantz,'_

Anthony's ears picked up on someone else walking up the flight of stairs, though his usual instinct was to just glance at his imaginary watch or keep his sight straight ahead. Yet for some reason Anthony felt the sudden need to look at the person, so deciding to just give a quick glance-

 _'Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-,'_

Almost as if his mind just suddenly stopped working Anthony, stupidly enough, continues to stare at the beauty going up the stairs. Hell he even stopped walking so that once the flaxen haired beauty neared his spot, she could easily notice Anthony looking directly at her. Yet the young latino only fell into a deep trance as those light, luminescent orbs looked at him

Delison stops for a moment, cocking up an eyebrow at Anthony the young russian smirks, "You know I'm well aware that this might sound deadly obvious, but I am waaaaaaaaaay out of your league,"

 _'-aaaaaaaargh,'_

After getting his act together the young latino takes a couple seconds to process that sentence. Instantly after that was done one thought popped into mind, one that honestly didn't surprise him;

 _'Well... she isn't wrong'_

Something even more important came into mind. No, it wasn't that he was already late for gym oddly enough. What Anthony suddenly realized is that a girl talked to him, and that he had been staring at her for a while now. Instantly his face became the shade of a radioactive tomato and for the second time that day, every single part of his body was screaming at him to run away as far as possible.

"S-s-s-s-or-sor-s-s-s!" Not even properly apologizing the young latino made his way down the rest of the steps with an amazing speed before disappearing from sight.

Delison simply stares at the spot she had seen the bold looker, though for some reason it didn't feel like the usual look males gave her. Breathing out a sigh the young russian had nonetheless found that whole thing amusing, though Delison decided that she should get going to class soon. Once the flaxen haired student reached the top of the stairs she heard her cellphone suddenly vibrate, so figuring it had to be important Delison reached for it where she always kept it.

"Let me see... it's gotta be somewhere around here," her breasts weren't even that big, so it shouldn't be that difficult to find that cursed cellphone inside her bra. Delison continued to look around till she felt something and thinking it was the thing she was looking for, the young russian pulled it out and came face to face with-

The flaxen haired student simply stared at the figurine of... someone. Delison had forgotten her name long ago but it had been a gift from Tony, which is why she carried around with her. In terms of looks the figurine was simple; it was that of a girl with dark brown hair tied into two side pony tails. She looked young, probably around her age if she said so herself. The girl's attire consisted of a long sleeved sweater, a short black skirt with some matching colored stockings and some brown loafers.

 _'You're not what I'm looking for,'_ Delison scowled lightly, though nonetheless her lips had formed into a smile, _'Get back in there'_

Once she placed the figurine back where it was Delison continued to look around for her cellphone before pulling it out. Quickly swiping in the password the flaxen haired student realized it was a text, but it wasn't from her friends... no, it was quite the opposite. The young russian quickly opened it up and read its contents, the smile she had quickly disappeared as Delison realized there was trouble.

 _'Heavens Tune... god dammit, they're raiding our turf, again!'_ Since getting help from some mysterious group they had been getting even bolder, so Delison figured these more frequent attacks were only natural. A tired sigh escaped her lips as she quickly texted back a message, stating that she would immediately go back once school finished up before making her way to class.

In the meantime Anthony finally reached the men's locker room. While they weren't completely empty the low number of students still here scared him a bit, not just because Coach Johnson was most likely taking attendance this very moment but because if Jeremy happened to be around... well, the jock had never gone past verbal abuse and the occasional shove so Anthony figured he had nothing to worry about.

Quickly scurrying towards his locker Anthony opened it up, changed into his gym attire, and threw in the rest of his stuff before slamming it shut. Keeping his sneakers and the t-shirt he had put on today, the only thing different about the young latino was the lack of jacket and a pair of black shorts. Once again mentally reassuring himself that nothing bad would be happening, Anthony exited the men's locker room and jogged towards the gym, which he only needed to cross a short corridor to get to.

Once the young latino entered the gym he was greeted with the usual sight of his classmates either in groups talking to each other or quietly sitting down on their designated spots on the smooth floor. Taking a deep breathe Anthony quietly passed by his other classmates, making sure that they didn't even know his prescience, before arriving at his spot and sitting down.

Adjusting his glasses Anthony notices Aryan in front of him, quietly sitting down on her spot and seemingly stared off into space. They were organized by alphabetical order so he had quite a bit of distance from Jeremy, that and plus the fact Coach Johnson was late which meant _he_ wasn't late set his mind at ease-

"Hello everyone!" the powerful, booming voice of Coach Johnson rings his ears. Everyone turns to the entrance of the gym, where the gym teacher was coming from. While the bald man made his way to the front the students that weren't already in their spot where heading there at lightning speed, fearful that the coach would mark them as absent if they weren't there.

Coach Johnson was a tall, very athletic built man. As previously mentioned the man had a shaved head, though it wasn't because of age apparently... no, he was bald by choice due to very important reasons that Anthony couldn't recall. The teacher had a shade of light olive for skin and like usual, he was wearing a track suit which was green for today.

Mr. Johnson was the coach of several school teams, though his most recognized position was on the Football and Basketball team. Because of this a lot of people called him Coach Johnson and those that didn't were immediately told to refer to him as Coach Johnson. Apart from that he taught Physical Education and sometimes Health, from what Anthony remembers. Honestly speaking apart from Ms. Smith, Coach Johnson was one of his favorite teachers; he wasn't too hard on any of his classes and as long as you completed the task he had given you there no problem with just sitting around and doing nothing.

"Alright... due to time we won't be doing much today," Mister Johnson quickly informed his class, who seemed pretty pleased with the news, "Just 30 laps around the gym and you can do whatever you want afterwards, alright? Get going!" rapidly snapping his fingers he motioned for everyone to get up and start running before sitting down on his usual black stool, which was near the entrance. Whatever was on that clipboard seemed a lot more important than keeping track of just how many actual laps his student's would run.

This kind of trustful behavior didn't surprise Aryan, after all Coach Johnson was known to have a pretty good relation with a lot of his students. Much like her classmates the tiny adolescent had begun running around the gym, which while being very spacious was a lot easier to accomplish compared to some of the crazy runs the teacher usually made them do.

Keeping a steady but not too slow pace Aryan already nears her second lap, with not even three minutes passing by. As usual Jeremy and his friends were dead set on being the first ones to finish in the lowest amount of time, so they often shoved or pushed other students that just happened to get in their way. There were a few like herself who were smart enough to jog on the side so they wouldn't get in their way, but Aryan noted that despite Anthony doing the same thing the jocks still shoved her classmate whenever possible.

Pitying him for a slight moment Aryan brings back her attention to the front, deciding it was none of her business and continued to jog at a slightly faster pace. Trying her best to remain focus a part of her couldn't help but overhear some of the conversations going around her... though a certain one suddenly caught her interest.

"Dude no kidding I totally saw White Jane!"

"Stop joking around, dumbass," the guy's friend speaks up, rolling his eyes at his buddy's stupidity, "You know White Jane is fake, right?"

"No way! I swear to god I saw her!"

"Are you sure it wasn't just the stuff I gave you last time?"

"No I know the difference!"

"I would believe you if you hadn't told me just last week that you saw Ronald McDonald inside a Taco Bell,"

While slightly intrigued on the conversation Aryan decided that she might be listening to something potentially dangerous, so she shook her head jogged faster to get away from those two.

 _'I wonder if I should start that series today,'_ recently some internet buddies on this forum had been nagging at her to start this series, though for the life of her she couldn't remember the name exactly. It was about these monsters that had the appearance of a human, though the only thing they could eat was human flesh, _'Tokyo... zombie? Nah, that's probably something else,'_

Back on subject, Aryan had been told to start the manga. Honestly speaking she wanted to go with the anime, but people kept telling her the manga was like a hundred times better and that the anime took a totally different route.

 _'There's volley practice today, though...'_ the tiny adolescent suddenly remembered, since the game against Handloff would be this Friday Coach Willies was being extra tough, _'So that's gonna have to wait till tomorrow... or after the game,'_

While Aryan continued to think to herself she flew past by Anthony, who was barely on his fifth lap and she was already finishing up her eight one. It had been a good 12 minutes and seeing no reason to tire himself from such an easy workout Anthony kept up the steady, but sort of slow pace. Yet as soon as he saw his tiny classmate run past him without a problem... something in Anthony flipped.

For some reason the latino decided to run, instead of jog. Feeling pretty confident after passing by Aryan, who didn't even seem to notice him, Anthony was about to complete another lap. All he needed to do was make a turn and he would be one lap closer to- something happened that would forever make him hate these cursed sneakers of his and running in general.

Just as he was making the turn Anthony slipped and hit the floor face flat.

Naturally most of the class busted out laughing, though a few continued to jog while others didn't even care about whatever happened to him. It took a while before Coach Johnson noticed the chorus of laughter, though after looking up from his clipboard and at Anthony the older male blew his whistle;

"Come on Reyes! Let's get up," the floor wasn't that hard, so there was nothing to worry about concerning that. Blowing his whistle again Coach Johnson shouted at the ones that were just standing there, "The rest of you back to jogging!"

As expected everyone went back to jogging, though the scene had been fun to watch Anthony wasn't worth getting a bad mark in such an easy assignment. As for the young latino in question he simply remained on the floor, thinking that perhaps playing dead for a would get his face back to its natural shade. Apparently his sneakers slipped real easy in smooth surfaces, good to know.

After a minute or two Anthony got up, inspected his glasses to make they hadn't been smashed before going back to jogging, this time at a much slower pace while trying to look as calm as possible. With what just happened taking the top as his worst moment of the year, Anthony couldn't even concentrate on the task at hand. Each time the young latino heard a laugh a shiver would run down his spine, one hundred percent sure that they were talking about him.

 _'No... i'm just overreacting about this whole thing,'_ Anthony reassured himself, that is till he heard another laugh nearby.

 _'Stop it,'_

So what if they laughed? It was only natural after something like that happened, right?

 _'Stop laughing,'_

The world didn't revolve him, they were probably laughing about something else... yeah...

 _'Stop making fun of me,'_

After a while of jogging Anthony finally completes the 30 laps, though he's one of the last ones to finish. Seeing as it wasn't quite time yet Anthony merely walked around the gym, trying his best to get those dumb thoughts out of his mind. Eventually Coach Johnson blew his whistle, "Alright let's get going! The bells about to ring!"

With that everyone went to their designated locker room and got changed. Like any other day Anthony is one of the first to finish and after applying some deodorant he quickly exits the locker room, luckily going unnoticed by Jeremy. Walking through the small corridor Anthony reaches the main hallway, with students already making their way outside.

A bit father ahead Anthony was surprised to see Coach Johnson at the entrance, though he seemed to occupied with whatever was on his clipboard to actually leave the building. Not paying him any further attention the young latino started to walk towards the exit and just as he was about to pass by the coach, the older male suddenly called out to him.

"Hey Reyes! I know this might be an annoying favor, but could you go back to the locker room and get some files from my desk?" the bald man suddenly asks Anthony.

"Oh, uh... I'm actually-"

"Good! I knew I could count on you," the coach suddenly hands him a pair of keys, "Use this to open my office inside the locker room. Honestly I can't trust any of the other guys with this, they might mess around with things they aren't supposed to,"

Anthony merely stares at the key in his hands, though after a couple more seconds the student nods at his teacher before going back to the men's locker room. The young latino would rather not to do this, but after Coach Johnson told him all that Anthony decided this would be a good chance to look good.

Following the same route he had taken Anthony enters and goes through the small corridor before entering the men's locker room. Carefully looking around the young latino spots nobody in sight, thinking that everyone had left by now Anthony walks over to the small office. Unlocking the door he quickly spotted the files Coach Johnson had told him about on his desk, so not wasting a second the student gets ahold of them before leaving the office, locking the door right behind him.

Feeling a bit more relaxed now Anthony walks towards the exit, though just as he's about to leave the young latino feels a pair of large hands pull him back onto the floor. Letting go of both the key and paperwork Anthony doesn't even realize who it is till he gets out of his slight dizzy spell, and by then Jeremy and his friends had already picked up what he had dropped and where at the door.

"You know, I personally wouldn't have wanted this," Jeremy tires to sound as sincere as possible with that sentence, but greatly fails, "But because a certain asshole beat the crap out of me I am in a bad mood, so thank Nikolas for this," with that Jeremy closed the locker room door shut.

Running towards the entrance Anthony tries to open it up, but it seems as if Jeremy stuck something to handle which prevented it from opening since it wasn't locked by key.

 _'… oh no'_

Seeing as his cellphone didn't get any signal in here the only thing he could to was bang on the door, while trying his best to shout loud enough for help.

 **( 3:00 PM )**

"Where did Ashley run off to..." Shannon mumbled to herself while looking around the low number of students still on campus. After art class the two made plans to spend time at Ashley's house and do their homework together, but Shannon had been waiting for 20 minutes now for her slightly taller friend... who was still nowhere in sight.

Deciding that maybe Ashley had misunderstood her and thought they would meet up at the house, Shannon decided to just go over there. Making her way out of school grounds the native american was walked through the nearly empty parking lot. Looking as if this walk would be uneventful Shannon was quickly proven wrong when she spotted three figures up ahead and realized who they were.

"Hey Shannon," April greeted her classmate with a vicious smirk, though as mentioned her group was considerably smaller as apart from her there where two other girls, " Thanks to you Cheryl got suspended! Why did you have to go and mess with something that didn't even concern you, huh?"

Shannon scowled lightly at them and breathed out an annoyed sigh, "...look, I really don't have time for this," the brown haired student informed them, her tone made it seem as if she was bored by just talking to them, "So could we just leave... whatever this is for tomorrow? Or better yet for never?"

"Don't get cocky you bitch," April warned with a venomous smirk, "The principal was there for you last time, but now we're all alone!"

Well, she wasn't wrong, "Three against one huh?" the young native american took a single step back, though continued to speak in her usual confident tone, "That seems fair,"

"It's not about being fair," the trio took a couple steps forward, all looking as if they were ready to jump at her at a moment's notice, "This is about teaching you a lesson and not interfering next time!"

Shannon laughed lightly at the threat, " I would be surprise if you could teach me anything," the shorter student admitted with a light smirk, though at the moment she was trying to find a clear route to run in, "But considering you're defending a rapist, I don't really care what you have to say,"

Cleary angered by the comment April gritted her teeth, deciding things would go extra bad for her just because of that, "Jordan isn't a rapist!" the redhead quickly defended, her tone not even wavering, "Ashley is just a slut and once she found out about his plans for leaving her, she accused him of rape!"

"You know if I actually believed you I would think you have a crush on him, "Shannon continued to stall, though by now she had spotted the perfect route to run in, "But I don't, so could you guys just leave me alone?"

The small trio of cheerleaders took some more steps forward, all smirking viciously at the shorter student, "Heh, I'm really going to enjoy this"

Shannon decided she had stalled enough. While it's true she wasn't exactly an all-star athlete her ability as a runner was no joke, so the young woman readied herself to make a run for it before a sudden voice from behind caught her attention. Easily recognizing the person Shannon couldn't help but think about the odds that he, of all people, would just happen to walk in on them.

Phil jogged towards the four, sporting on a smile like usual and with the additional of grey jacket; it was front zipped by design and seemed to have a thin steel lining, "Shannon is that you?" the humble jock suddenly called out, sounding surprise to see her here at this hour, "I thought you took the bus," going right beside the much shorter student, Phil looks forward and seems to just notice the cheerleaders.

"Hey there," he politely greeted the trio with a smile while Shannon merely stared at him in disbelief, which seemed to go unnoticed.

"H-hi Phil!" as her two friends were to embarrassed to greet him back, April took charge as usual, "So you guys are close friends?" the redhead asked before staring daggers at Shannon, who merely rolled her eyes.

The humble jock nodded, "Oh yeah we are,"

 _'We literally talked for the first time today,' Shannon_ thought to herself, but she decided the best thing to do now was to remain silent.

"O-oh! I see, well... we were just talking to Shannon here about class," April forced up a smile while her two lackeys merely nodded in agreement, "But we'll be leaving now... bye Phil!" all three of them wave a goodbye at him before leaving the school grounds, in which April then proceed to stomp around and yell out in frustration as soon as they were out of sight.

After the trio disappeared from view the two Seniors merely stood there, both looking at the spot they had last seen them before Shannon looked up at Phil, an eyebrow cocked up, "You really aren't thick headed enough to believe that, right?" the young native american asked, unsure what answer to expect from him.

"Of course not," Phil stated bluntly, honestly he didn't even know their names and found it even more odd they knew his own, "But I figured everything would turn out fine if i made my presence known," that had actually gone better than expected, now that he thought about it.

"Oh, alright," Shannon spoke out calmly, a bit glad things hadn't turned out ugly before she started walking away.

Oddly enough Phil followed, "So aren't you freaked out or anything?" The jock suddenly asked.

"Meh, no big deal," the young native american shrugged, things would have worked out either way so she had nothing to be freaked out about, "But I do appreciate your help, so thanks" Shannon looked up at the taller student with a small grin.

 _'Oh'_

Phil decided to change the subject, "Don't you take the bus?" he asked out of the blue, "I've happened to see you a couple times getting on one, so why are you here so late after school?"

"It's not that late," Shannon calmly argued, "Volleyball has practice and there's that after school program still going on,"

"Well that's true, but that doesn't really answer my-"

"I was waiting for Ashley, but I think she misunderstood our plan and ended up going to her house first,"

"Ah, that sounds like her"

The shorter Senior was honestly surprised to hear that, and for a moment she wondered for just how long Ashley had known him before a sudden thought popped into mind, "So Phil aren't you part of the fencing team?" the young native american questioned just as they left school grounds, "Captain, if I remember correctly,"

"How do you-"

"Ashley,"

"Oh," Phil figured that was the reason, but for some reason he decided to ask, "Well I've been overworking a lot of the members lately... so I thought giving them a break would be nice, even if it's just for today," there was that and he had checked in both his fencing swords for a maintenance check last Friday, which was only happening after having been persuade by an acquaintance of his who was running newly built shop concerning swords and all that.

Michael need all the help in getting his shop a proper reputation. It was free and they would be ready by later today, so why not? But there was no need to say that.

"Well that explains it," not being part of any sport Shannon wasn't sure on all that, so she just nodded and went on the sidewalk, "So you're going home now?"

Phil shook his head, "I'm going to my part time job," the jock corrected her, "I work as a chef at this small Italian restaurant... though I usually call over a taxi," he quickly added in that last part.

"You don't need to walk me to Ashley's house, you know" the young native american assumed that was the case, "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself,"

Phil shook his head, "I know that, but we just happen to be going in the same direction right now," the taller student reassured her with a small smile.

"Really?"

"Yeah," the humble jock nodded lightly, "If I walk a little more there's a phone up ahead," as if on cue Phil pointed to the public phone a couple feet away, which rested right besides an intercross.

"Oh, alright," Shannon was a bit baffled from seeing the public phone, as her bus passed by here nearly every day for the past 4 years and not once had she seen that, "Well, this is where we part then, so see you tomorrow... I guess," thanking him once again for the safe the young native american waves goodbye at Phil before crossing the street, if she remembered correctly Ashley's house was a couple blocks ahead from here.

The jock waved goodbye before getting ahold of the public phone and feeding it a quarter, though after realizing it hadn't added any credit he tried to get it back... but no matter how many times he flipped the switch it was obvious that wasn't going to be happen. Realizing he had just lost a quarter Phil breathed out a tired sigh before trying to think up of another plan... that is till he heard someone call out to him.

Turning in the direction of the voice Phil quickly spotted Chris, who was just exiting the school grounds and running at him.

"I never thought I'd see you here so late," the jock was surprised to see his friend here, as he was usually one of the first ones to leave school.

Chris shrugged, though knowing him pretty well Phil could tell his maroon eyed friend was annoyed by something "Meh, Ashley told me we were gone study today so I waited for her-"

"Let me guess, since you couldn't find her you thought that Ashley had run up ahead and was already at her house?"

The slightly shorter student merely stared at him with slight disbelief in his eyes, which was quickly replaced by annoyance, "...I'm not even going to ask how you know that,"

Phil laughed softly at his comment before suddenly being reminded of his situation, "Say... could I borrow your cellphone?" the jock asked with a smile, "I need to call over a taxi," the chocolate eyed student quickly added in.

Rolling his eyes Chris reached into one of his pockets before pulling out his cellphone,"Here you go," the senior student handed his friend the device.

"Thanks," after getting a proper hold Phil started to dial the number of the usual taxi service he traveled in, seeing as he was saving up for his eventful leave Phil appreciated all the extra change he could get.

It didn't take long for someone to answer him and while Phil was informing them about his location Chris suddenly looked up the sky, his maroon orbs glinting with an unreadable emotion. With this literally being the first time he and Ashley hadn't walked home together Chris felt odd... as usual regretting not listening to Lane's advice weeks before her death.

 _'Just confess to Ashley already! I'm eighty nine percent sure she feels the same way, so don't drag it out!'_

Clearly remembering her words there was not a single doubt in his mind that the current situation was his fault. Just like she had told him he had dragged things out and now Ashley had a boyfriend. While he didn't want to think it Chris figured that Ashley wasn't at her house, but on a date with whatever guy she was dating.

 _'...lucky bastard,'_

 **( 5: 24 PM )**

"Come on Aryan! Get it!"

Without a word the tiny adolescent got into position and hit the volleyball from below, successfully passing it to one of her other teammates who slammed the volleyball over the net. The opposing team didn't miss a beat and the one playing a libero passed the ball to one of the ones up front, though the hit had been too hard and the balls ends up hitting the net.

Aryan's team broke into a cheer, though the smallest player simply stood there... honestly a bit too tired considering it was a practice match. Despite being a great libero people still tended to yell at her a lot, so while she enjoyed the position Aryan often found tended to be drained of energy after an actual game. Having changed into her red Volleyball uniform Aryan can't help but slightly miss the warmth of her Akira hoodie.

The sudden whistle of Coach Willies pierced her all the girl's ears, "Alright that's enough girls! Hit the lockers and let's get out of here," pleased with the practice match and taking a look at the time, the girls' volleyball coach decided it was about time they left for home.

Coach Willies was a bit too weak looking for an actual coach, but to anyone that knew her they would know that just because she had a skinny build didn't meant her physical state was a joke, quite the opposite in fact. The older woman had left her bleach hair down, so that it reached a bit past her shoulders and as usual her midnight orbs were right behind a pair of light framed glasses.

For today the coach had gone with a sleeveless turtle neck sweater, which was black and left most of her vanilla white skin exposed. The rest of her attire consisted of some purple track pants and some black sneakers, which looked a bit worn out.

If there was such a thing as the perfect athlete Aryan had to admit that her coach was probably the closest thing to it. That just her opinion, but there was no doubt Coach Willies athletic abilities. While the young adolescent exited the gym Aryan couldn't help admiring her again; ever since her freshmen year the coach had shown great vigor and while usually very outgoing, she was very strict when it came to volleyball. Or any sport for that matter.

From what Aryan remembers Coach Willies also trained the girls' soccer and basketball team. She was also the coach for the fencing team, but bleach haired woman had mentioned once that the captain of the team usually took care of everything himself and that she was simply just there to monitor things.

"Aryan, could you come here for a second?"

From the sudden call of her coach the younger woman didn't even hesitate and jogged back, till she was right in front of Coach Willies. Aryan looked up at the older woman with a questionable look, "What is it, Coach?"

"Firstly, I just want to you're doing a great job as our main libero!" the bleach haired woman sincerely complimented her student, who suddenly glanced at the ground, "I honestly wish this wasn't your last year on the team... anyways getting off topic!"

Clearing her throat, Coach Willies started again, "Well, actually this has been a problem I'd rather not bring up... but if we want to beat Handloff again I need you do this for me; get closer to your teammates, Aryan,"

The tiny adolescent blinked a couple times, a bit unsure on what she meant by that.

"You need to open up to everyone!" the bleach haired woman explained, "Each time they need to check on you there are seconds being waste, and by then the ball could very well hit the ground. I know complete trust isn't possible, but do try to form stronger bonds with everyone okay?"

"Oh, sure Coach,"

"Alright good!" Coach Willies exclaimed with a smile, "Well then with that in mind, I'll see you tomorrow!" taking that as her sign to leave Aryan silently made her way out of the gym, feeling a bit awkward from the conversation that just happened.

Exiting the gym the tiny adolescent couldn't help breathing out a sigh; Aryan situation has always been like this, but her team hardly loss a game. It's not as if she didn't take her coach's words seriously... but it hasn't tried doing that already. In the end Aryan always chickened out, fearing the outcome if she even tried to talk with one of her teammates.

Just as she passed by the men's locker room something suddenly caught her eye; for some reason there was a broom stuck on the door, preventing it from being opened from the inside. Analyzing it for a moment Aryan decides that wasn't right before walking towards it and pulling the broom off. The tiny adolescent merely watched as the door slid open by itself with a loud screech and seconds later, her ears picked up on a set of footsteps running towards the entrance.

Dark brown orbs widened slightly at seeing Anthony, of all people, exiting the men's locker room. Though he didn't outwardly say it her classmate looked overjoyed with finally getting out. For a moment Aryan wondered why she hadn't noticed this when she passed by here earlier today.

Since he just kind of stood there, looking as if he wanted to say something Aryan decided that for once she would break the ice; it helped that she didn't know him that well, "What were you doing there, Anthony?"

The taller student blinks a couple times, a bit surprised that someone actually bothered with remembering his name before speaking up, "Uh... i got closed in by Jeremy and kept banging the door, but no one seemed to notice me so I decided to just wait for the janitor to open up since," that was half true, though by waiting he meant accidently fallen asleep... but she didn't need to know that, "But anyways thanks a bunch!" with his tone filled with gratitude Anthony just had the urge to hug her, but that would be sort of creepy so no.

Aryan shook her head, "No need to thank me," the tiny adolescent reassured him, "But you really should get going, the bus left like hours ago..." with that thought in mind Aryan figured she should also hurry herself, since her dad would come by to pick her up soon.

"Yeah you're right..." the young latino trailed off, a bit embarrassed with the situation he had been in. After a couple more seconds Anthony finally got his act together and walked past the shorter student, "Um... thanks again! Really," for some reason he always had trouble expressing his gratitude, but not wanting to sound annoying by saying it too much Anthony quietly left the small corridor

Aryan watches the spot she had last seen Anthony till breathing out a sigh. While going over to the women's locker room a part of her wondered why Jeremy always bothered Anthony. This might surprise most people, but if her memory wasn't playing any tricks both Jeremy and Anthony had been best friends back in Elementary... they always hanged out together with a couple of others. Apart from Jeremy a lot of his other past friends had changed schools, but Aryan often caught sight of a few of them here in Cloverwood. She only had class with one of them, though;

 _'… Ashley was it?'_ Aryan thought about it a bit further, but after catching sight of some teammates already leaving the locker room the tiny adolescent figured it was best that she forget all that and get changing herself.

Meanwhile Anthony finally exited the building. After catching sight of the nearly empty parking lot the young latino considered calling her aunt, but quickly decided against the idea as he didn't want to bother his caretaker because of the important police work she could be doing at this very moment. So that left him with only one other option: walking. Getting right to it by leaving the school grounds Anthony figured that the walk wouldn't take too long, sure his school bus took a good while to get from there to here... but the young latino assumed that the walk would take him about one hour and a half at worst.

 _'That's not so bad! Walking is good, right?'_ all he needed to do was follow the same route his bus took so he wouldn't get lost. Simple, ' _What could possibly go wrong?'_

As soon as Anthony thought that he began thinking up all the possible bad situations he could find himself in during this walk.

 **( 9: 46 PM )**

"Hey Ana... hey!"

"Oh my god what is it, Jarrel?" the older woman merely glances at his partner, who was seating on the passenger seat of their police car.

Being four or so years younger than herself honestly speaking, Jarrel looked more like a model in that uniform instead of an actual cop. As of the moment both of them had their police cap off making Jarrel's thick, golden blonde hair which was slightly spiked at the front completely visible. You add this plus his perfectly muscular build, flawless light toned skin and that naturally charming face of his and you got women often swooning over him.

Ana was not one of these women. In fact she was rather annoyed of this guy.

"We should go to that Italian restaurant! You know, the one we always go to!" Jarrel suggested in an almost childish tone, honestly not sounding like a man his age, "I heard the chef's a bit young... but we already tasted his food! It's delicious!"

"No,"

"Aww come! It's not like we're doing anything better,"

They really weren't. Right now they were stationed in some random spot in the city, looking for any potential trouble. It was already night time which only rose up the risk of crime. Not only that but they were hoping to catch some of those drug sellers on the act, which is why there were several patrol cars stationed all over the city right now.

"My answer isn't going to change, idiot" Ana once again flat out turned down his idea, dead seat on her choice, "If we do go you'll do nothing but go on about all day tomorrow," the last time they had gone there to eat Jarrel made sure that not a single soul back at the station didn't know of their... and I quote "lovely date."

Jarrel growled out in irritation, frustrated by her senior's oddly stubborn nature. Deciding there was no other choice the handsome blonde went with his seductive smile trick, one that had never failed him, "Come on Ana, I'm sure you'll enjoy it," the younger officer reassured the redhead while showing off his shiny, pearly white smile, "Who knows, maybe by the end you'll realize you're true feelings for-"

 **'Attention all units! We have a reported murder at Marie's Comfy Motel! All units nearby are to go there immediately,'**

"GODDAMIT!" Jarrel cried out in frustration, questioning life itself on why they had to report some crime just now. It seemed as if he didn't fully process what Shirley had reported over the radio till seconds later after knowing Ana's look, who seemed as if she had been told she had a day to live, "Wait, Maries? Isn't that near your apartment-"

Not allowing him the chance to finish that sentence Ana wordlessly started up the vehicle, turned on the siren and began drive in the general direction of the cheap motel; Jarrel wasn't that good with the geography of the city, but even if he joined the force a couple months back the handsome blonde was sure they were nowhere near Maries.

While trying his best to not bang his head on the car ceiling Ana continued to keep up a poker face, which was easy due to her years of experience. Despite this the redhead was freaking out inside her mind even if Anthony had long arrived at home by now. Heck, knowing that kid he wouldn't leave that room of his until she arrived but...

 _'I have this uneasy feeling in my chest...'_

 **( Around the same time)**

 _'...Holy shit'_

Honestly speaking, Anthony never imagined the walk would take so long. With the sun having settled down some while ago the young latino had gotten lost, which was why this trip was taking that much longer. However after constant wondering around without a clue Anthony spotted that italian restaurant his aunt often brought take out from and after he had begun to jog, since being out so late in the city wasn't a very wise move. Determined to get home and finish up the anime he had started Anthony continued to jog, feeling more confident as he started to recognize more of his surroundings.

There were several buildings, most of them being apartments while others were just there for some reason. They all had some sort of alley in between but Anthony wasn't sure if they all lead to a dead end or to the other side. Finding the lack of activity odd compared to where he had just passed by about an hour ago Anthony suddenly spotted a 7-11 in the distance, which told him that he was getting close.

Quickly jogging pass the corner store Anthony noticed that everything had gone silent. Apart from the twitching lights of a few streets lamps that illuminated the way the night seemed thicker than ever, _'Man... I never thought this part of the city looked so scary after daylight'_ with this literally being the first time he was out so late, Anthony wasn't surprised with that lack of info, _'But I should be close! I just need to pass that crappy motel and-'_

Out of nowhere a figure of someone appears in the distance, walking on the very same side walk he was on and straight towards him. Naturally the young latino started to freak out inside his mind and for a moment, he considered dialing his aunt at this very moment and telling her to come pick him up. After all what if they tried to get money off of him? Or offered him drugs?

Who knows what kind of weirdos walked so late at this hour.

 _'… Not funny brain,'_

Despite this he continued to walk in the same direction, ' _No... Just calm down,'_ he shouldn't make such brash judgments from someone he didn't even know! Who knows, maybe that person just was as scared as he was... yeah, I mean who wouldn't be while passing through this part of city which seemed practically deserted! With this mindset Anthony calmed kept his gaze at the front and quickened his pace, deciding to pass by this person as quickly as possible.

By now only a couple of steps separated them and out of nowhere Anthony's nose cringed at a sudden stench flooding it. Feeling as if he would barf at that very moment the young latino wasn't sure what it could belong to, as he's never smelled this type of scent before. Suddenly a street lamp began working properly, illuminating the area enough to get good look at the person... who was most definitely a female, this was oddly the first thing that popped into his mind till noticing that most of her upper body was completely drenched in a red liquid.

The stench got stronger as the two were literally inches away from each other. With the young woman's hair completely drenched in the liquid and pulled up front, it was impossible to tell any facial features apart from her eyes... which were blue and held a crazed look in them. Stupidly enough Anthony just froze there even after catching sight of the large, bloody tainted shard of glass in her left hand.

The young, blood drenched woman got closer till she was literally about to pass Anthony. Sweating buckets of sweat and feeling his heartbeat speeding up like crazy all he could think was that he was going to die, Anthony Reyes was going to die right here and right now all because he had been locked up in the men's locker room by his former best friend. Oddly enough the young woman looked up at him, those blue orbs oozed with the intent to kill as they stared right at him through her drenched hair. All Anthony could do was stare back, wondering when she would do the deed.

Out of the blue the young woman whispered something.

"D... … an.. … … ..y,"

For a slight moment Anthony thought he caught a smile, though the latino wasn't sure and all he could manage was just watch as the young woman casually passed right by him. Almost as if his strength was brought back to his legs Anthony didn't waste a heartbeat and ran like hell, not once slowing down even as he passed by the motel that had been a couple blocks ahead. Eventually arriving at his apartment building the young latino quickly ran inside and climbed up the stairs, seeing as the elevator was out of service.

 _'Had she followed me?'_

That's all Anthony could think about as he arrived at his floor. Feeling as if his legs were about to give up at a moment's notice the young latino pulled out his keys and went over to the door which had his apartment number. Like the several hundred times before Anthony opened it with ease and quickly entered inside, making sure to lock right behind him the young latino ran towards him room and shut himself inside.

"... What just happened," the seventeen year old suddenly spoke up after turning on his light. Sliding off his backpack Anthony threw himself onto his bed, shivering at the thought that if she had chosen to do so he would be dead by now.

Had he just passed by a killer? Shouldn't he have questioned her? Heroically stopped her and turned her into the police? Or maybe it had been some prank...

But there was no denying what he had felt; fear of losing his life. Why? Anthony's plan was to join the police force and risk his life every day for a greater good, just like his aunt. Yet he had just frozen up there... Anthony had given up at that moment, he hadn't even bothered to run or fight and had left his fate completely in her hands.

'... _I really am a coward,'_

 **And just like that a week passed, uneventful for many and the turning point of their life for a handful.**

 **One discovered joy, another found meaning, and the rest found something worse than death.**

 **What could possibly be worse than death? Concerning the subject there's so many possibilities and questions making death something unknown to us, for that reason we fear it. Will we rot in flames for eternity? Be reborn as some other creature? Or maybe find ourselves in an eternal paradise? But certainly nothing could be more frightening then the possibility of an eternal pitch black. To suddenly just stop living and become nothing but a corpse rotting on the ground. To forget everything you know, leave regrets behind that will never be resolved and simply be forgotten as if you've never existed.**

 **That's debatable actually, but this new found fear is something that will surely come close.**

 **With this our Wretched Year begins.**

Christian "Chris" Evans - ShinBP

Shannon Bennett - chiaki ebooks

Delison Led – Awesome D.T

Nikolas Duncan - UnoriginalName

Ayan Patel - Winxcat

Phil 'Easton' Angelo - Lazersword88

Ashley Baker, Emiliana Reyes, Simon Castel, teachers, Jarrel, and Anthony Reyes - Me

 **Author's Note:** **Took me a while -.-**

 **This was mainly to introduce most of the cast as well as show and build some relations between each other. So yeah.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed it. I really love all the character sent in so that wasn't the trouble with starting this. It was mostly because i didn't feel to be a good enough writer when i published the first version of this so i took some time off to improve, even if it was just by a little. I'm still far from being the best but I'm content with how i am right now. I'm not sure if i want to start the outbreak in the next one or just continue to have characters interact.**

 **If you were hoping to have the outbreak start right away, apologies.**

 **I have most of the plot planned, but for me writing these first few chapters is the hardest part. With school and having to work on another story of mine i don't have a clear idea on how the update schedule will go... but i'll try to get in the next one early next month.**

 **Is the chapter too long? I feel like I drag out things -.- I think that's my main problem. I'm also not good with describing locations, things, and stuff in general so sorry about. I think that's the main reason this chapter is so long, so i'm not sure how long the next one will be. It might have some less words but i'm planning to have some more stuff going on.**

 **My biggest worry is always how I portrayed the characters sent in; were they alright? I'm very sorry if they weren't.**

 **ONTO MORE THINGS; as you noticed I have put SYOC on the title. So yes I will be taking in some more Ocs ( I'm planning for 2 max since I don't want to overcrowd the story) so if you are interested, go to my profile. The form and my own OC are there.**

 **I can't believe I finished this chapter. Seriously. Hopefully you won't find it too boring. I appreciate all helpful feedback, so you are welcomed to review! They motivate me and make my day :)**

 **I would also like to say thanks to a very amazing writer, RottoVoce, for motivating me. Probably not in the way he expected, though.**


	2. Note

Hey, Shoujo Experience here.

I'll make this brief. Life kind of kicked my butt and I wasn't able to update...BUT I would still like to work on this where I left off. Would anyone still be interested in reading? Though I have lots of ideas I'd rather not work on something that most of the ocs creators won't read when I can just start fresh. I'd rather not though. I really love all the characters sent in...


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